A  CANDID  HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS 


A  CANDID  HISTORY 

OF 

THE  JESUITS 


BY 


JOSEPH    MUGABE 

AUTHOR  OF 
"THE  DECAY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME"  ETC. 


LONDON 

EVELEIGH     NASH 

1913 


_:  \> 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MA  02167 


OCT  4     1984 


PREFACE 

It  is  the  historic  custom  of  the  Church  of  Rome  to 
enlist  in  its  service  monastic  or  quasi-monastic  bodies  in 
addition  to  the  ordinary  clergy.  In  its  hour  of  greatest 
need,  at  the  very  outbreak  of  the  Reformation,  the 
Society  of  Jesus  was  formed  as  one  of  these  auxiliary 
regiments,  and  in  the  war  which  the  Church  of  Rome 
has  waged  since  that  date  the  Jesuits  have  rendered  the 
most  spirited  and  conspicuous  service.  Yet  the  pro- 
cedure of  this  Society  has  differed  in  many  important 
respects  from  that  of  the  other  regiments  of  the  Church, 
and  a  vast  and  unceasing  controversy  has  gathered 
about  it.  It  is  probable  that  a  thousand  times,  or 
several  thousand  times,  more  books  and  pamphlets  and 
articles  have  been  written  about  the  Jesuits  than  about 
even  the  oldest  and  most  powerful  or  learned  of  the 
monastic  bodies.  Not  a  work  of  history  can  be  opened, 
in  any  language,  but  it  will  contain  more  references  to 
the  Jesuits  than  to  all  the  other  religious  orders  collect- 
ively. But  opinions  differ  as  much  to-day  as  they  did  a 
hundred  or  two  hundred  years  ago  about  the  character 
of  the  Jesuits,  and  the  warmest  eulogies  are  chilled  by 
the  most  bitter  and  withering  indictments. 

What  is  a  Jesuit.''  The  question  is  asked  still  in 
every  civilised  land,  and  the  answer  is  a  confusing  mass 
of  contradictions.     The  most  learned  historians  read  the 


vi  PREFACE 

facts  of  their  career  so  differently,  that  one  comes  to  a 
verdict  expressing  deep  and  criminal  guilt,  and  another 
acquits  them  with  honour.  Since  the  foundation  of  the 
Society  these  drastically  opposed  views  of  its  action 
have  been  taken,  and  the  praise  and  homage  of  admirers 
have  been  balanced  by  the  intense  hatred  of  an  equal 
number  of  Catholic  opponents.  It  would  seem  that 
some  impenetrable  veil  lies  over  the  history  and  present 
life  of  the  Society,  yet  on  both  sides  its  judges  refuse  to 
recognise  obscurity.  Catholic  monarchs  and  peoples 
have,  time  after  time,  driven  the  Jesuits  ignominiously 
over  their  frontiers ;  Popes  have  sternly  condemned 
them.  But  they  are  as  active,  and  nearly  as  numerous, 
in  the  twentieth  century  as  in  the  last  days  of  the  old 
political  world. 

No  marshalling  of  historical  facts  will  change  the 
feeling  of  the  pronounced  admirers  and  opponents  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  it  would  be  idle  to  suppose  that,  because 
the  present  writer  is  neither  Roman  Catholic  nor 
Protestant,  he  will  be  awarded  the  virtue  of  impartiality. 
There  seems,  however,  some  need  for  an  historical  study 
of  the  Jesuits  which  will  aim  at  impartiality  and  candour. 
On  one  side  we  have  large  and  important  works  like 
Cr^tineau-Joly's  Histoire  religieuse,  politique,  et  littdraire 
de  la  Compagnie  de  jSsus,  and  a  number  of  smaller  works, 
written  by  Catholics  of  England  or  America,  from  the 
material,  and  in  the  spirit,  of  the  French  historian's  work. 
Such  works  as  these  cannot  for  a  moment  be  regarded 
as  serious  history.  They  are  panegyrics  or  apologies  : 
pleasant  reading  for  the  man  or  woman  who  wishes  to 
admire,  but  mere  untruth  to   the  man  or  woman  who 


PREFACE  vii 

wishes  to  know.  Indeed,  the  work  of  M.  Cretineau-Joly, 
written  in  conjunction  with  the  Jesuits,  which  is  at  times 
recommended  as  the  classical  authority  on  the  Society, 
has  worse  defects  than  the  genial  omission  of  unedifying 
episodes.  He  makes  the  most  inflated  general  state- 
ments on  the  scantiest  of  material,  is  seriously  and 
frequently  inaccurate,  makes  a  very  generous  use  of  the 
"  mental  reserve  "  which  his  friends  advocate,  and  some- 
times embodies  notoriously  forged  documents  without 
even  intimating  that  they  are  questioned. 

Such  works  naturally  provoke  an  antagonistic  class 
of  volumes,  in  which  the  unflattering  truths  only  are 
presented  and  a  false  picture  is  produced  to  the  prejudice 
of  the  Jesuits.  An  entirely  neutral  volume  on  the 
Jesuits  does  not  exist,  and  probably  never  will  exist. 
The  historian  who  surveys  the  whole  of  the  facts  of  their 
remarkable  and  romantic  career  cannot  remain  neutral. 
Nor  is  it  merely  a  question  of  whether  the  writer  is  a 
Roman  Catholic  or  no.  The  work  of  M.  Cretineau-Joly 
was  followed  in  France  by  one  written  by  a  zealous 
priest,  the  Abbe  Guettee,  which  tore  its  predecessor  to 
shreds,  and  represented  the  Society  of  Jesus  as  fitly 
condemned  by  Pope  and  kings. 

It  will  be  found,  at  least,  that  the  present  work 
contains  an  impartial  account  both  of  the  virtue  and 
heroism  that  are  found  in  the  chronicles  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  the  scandals  and  misdeeds  that  may  justly  be 
attributed  to  them.  It  is  no  less  based  on  the  original 
Jesuit  documents,  as  far  as  they  have  been  published, 
and  the  work  of  Cretineau-Joly,  than  on  the  antagonistic 
literature,  as  the  reader  will  perceive.     Whether  or  no  it 


viii  PREFACE 

seems  to  some  an  indictment,  it  is  a  patient  endeavour  to 
give  all  the  facts,  within  the  compass  of  the  volume,  and 
enable  the  reader  to  form  a  balanced  judgment  on  the 
Society.  It  is  an  attempt  to  understand  the  Jesuits  :  to 
understand  the  enthusiasm  and  fiery  attachment  of  one 
half  of  the  Catholic  world  no  less  than  the  disdain  or 
detestation  of  the  other,  to  employ  the  white  and  the 
black,  not  blended  into  a  monotonous  grey  but  in  their 
respective  places  and  shades,  so  as  to  afford  a  truthful 
picture  of  the  dramatic  fortunes  of  the  Society  during 
nearly  four  centuries,  and  some  insight  into  the  character 
of  the  men  who  won  for  it  such  ardent  devotion  and  such 
intense  hostility. 

J.   M. 


CONTENTS 


CHAr. 

I.  The  Origin  of  the  Society 
II.  The  First  Jesuits  .  , 

III.  Early  Storms      .... 

IV.  General  Francis  Borgia 

V.  Progress  and  Decay  under  Acquaviva 
VI.  The  Early  Jesuits  in  England 
VII.  The  First  Century  of  Jesuitism 
VIII.  Under  the  Stuarts 
IX.  The  Struggle  with  the  Jansenists     . 
X.  The  Expulsion  from  Portugal  and  Spain 
XI.  The  Foreign  Missions   . 
XII.  In  the  Germanic  Lands 

XIII.  The  Suppression  of  the  Society 

XIV.  The  Restoration 
XV.  The  New  Jesuits 

XVI.  The  Last  Phase  .... 
Index 


PAGE 
I 

27 

55 
80 

106 

142 

167 

195 
220 

253 
279 

311 

334 
364 
390 

424 

445 


A  CANDID  HISTORY  OF  THE 

JESUITS 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   ORIGIN    OF  THE  SOCIETY 

In  the  early  summer  of  the  year  152 1,  some  months 
after  Martin  Luther  had  burned  the  Pope's  bull  at 
Wittenberg  and  lit  the  fire  of  the  Reformation,  a  young 
Basque  soldier  lay  abed  in  his  father's  castle  at  the  foot 
of  the  Pyrenees,  contemplating  the  wreck  of  his  am- 
bition. Ifiigo  of  Loyola  was  the  youngest  son  in  a  large 
family  of  ancient  lineage  and  little  wealth.  He  had  lost 
his  mother  at  an  early  date,  and  had  been  placed  by  a 
wealthy  aunt  at  court,  where  he  learned  to  love  the  flash 
of  swords,  the  smile  of  princes,  the  softness  of  silk  and 
of  women's  eyes,  and  all  the  hard  deeds  and  rich 
rewards  of  the  knight's  career.  From  the  court  he  had 
gone  to  the  camp,  and  had  set  himself  sternly  to  the 
task  of  cutting  an  honourable  path  back  to  court.  Fear- 
less in  war,  skilful  in  sport  and  in  martial  exercises, 
refined  in  person,  cheerful  in  temper,  and  ardent  in  love, 
the  young  noble  had  seen  before  him  a  long  avenue  of 
knightly  adventure  and  gracious  recompense.  He  was, 
in  1 52 1,  in  his  thirtieth  year  of  age,  or  near  it — his 
birth-year  is  variously  given  as  1491  or  1493;  a  clean- 
built,  sinewy  little  man,  with  dark  lustrous  eyes  flashing 
in  his  olive-tinted  face,  and  thick  black  hair  crowning  his 
lofty  forehead.     And   a    French    ball    at    the    siege    of 


2  THE  JESUITS 

Pampeluna    had,    at   one    stroke,    broken    his    leg   and 
shattered  his  ambition. 

It  took  some  time  to  realise  the  ruin  of  his  ambition. 
The   chivalrous    conquerors  at  Pampeluna  had    treated 
their   brave    opponent    with   distinction,  and   had,  after 
dressing  his  wounds,  sent  him  to  the  Loyola  castle  in 
the    Basque    provinces,    where   his    elder    brother    had 
brouo-ht   the    surgeons   to    make   him    fit    for    the    field 
once    more.     The    bone,  they    found,    had    been    badly 
set  ;   it  must  be    broken    again    and    re-set.      He   bore 
their    operations    without    a    moan,    and    then    lay    for 
weeks    in  pain  and  fever.      He    still   trusted    to    return 
to   the   camp   and    win    the    favour   of  a   certain   great 
lady— probably  the  daughter  of  the  Dowager-Queen  of 
Naples — whose  memory  he  secretly  cherished.      Indeed, 
on  the  feast  of  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  he  spoke  of 
it   with   confidence;    he  told  his  brother  that  the  elder 
apostle  had  entered  the  dark  chamber  and  healed  him 
on  the  eve  of  the  festival.      Unhappily  he  found,  when 
the  fever  had  gone,  that  the  second  setting  of  his  leg 
had  been  so  ill  done  that    a   piece    of  bone    projected 
below  the  knee,  and  the  right  leg  was  shorter  than  the 
left.     Again  he  summoned  the  medieval  surgeons  and 
their  appalling  armoury,  and  they  sawed   off  the   pro- 
truding piece  of  bone  and  stretched  his  leg  on  a  rack 
they  used  for  such    purposes;    and  not  a  cry  or    curse 
came  from  the  tense  lips.     But  the  right  leg  still  refused 
to   meet  its  fellow,  and    shades  gathered  about  Inigo's 
glorious  prospect  of  life.     A  young  man  who  limps  can 
hardly  hope  to  reach  a  place  of  honour  in  the  camp,  or 
the  gardens  of   the  palace,    or    the    hearts    of   women. 
Talleyrand,   later,  would  set  out  on   his  career  with  a 
limp  ;  and  Talleyrand  would  become  a  diplomatist. 

Ifiigo  lay  in  the  stout  square  castle  of  rugged  stone, 
which  is  now  reverently  enclosed,  like  a  jewel,  in  a  vast 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  3 

home  of  the  Jesuits.  It  then  stood  alone  in  a  beautiful 
valley,  just  at  the  foot  of  the  last  southern  slopes  of  the 
Pyrenees,  about  a  mile  from  the  little  town  of  Azpeitia. 
The  mind  of  the  young  Basque  heaved  with  confused 
and  feverish  dreams  as  he  lay  there,  in  the  summer  heat, 
beside  the  wreck  of  his  ambition.  He  called  for  books 
of  knight-errantry,  to  while  away  the  dreary  days,  but 
there  were  none  in  the  Loyola  castle,  and  someone — a 
oious  sister,  perhaps — brought  him  2.  Life  of  Christ  and 
a  Floivers  of  the  Saints.  For  lack  of  anythino-  better 
he  read  them  :  at  first  fingering  the  leaves  with  the 
nearest  approach  to  disdain  that  a  Christian  soldier  dare 
admit,  then  starting  with  interest,  at  length  flushing  with 
enthusiasm.  What  was  this  but  another  form  of  chivalry  } 
Nay,  when  you  reflected,  it  was  the  only  chivalry  worth 
so  fierce  a  devotion  as  his.  Here  was  a  way  of  winning 
a  fair  lady,  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  whose  glances  were 
worth  more  than  the  caresses  of  all  the  dames  in  Castile  : 
here  was  a  monarch  to  serve,  whose  court  outshone  the 
courts  of  France  and  Spain  as  the  sun  outshines  the 
stars :  here  were  adventures  that  called  for  a  higher 
spirit  than  the  bravado  of  the  soldier. 

The  young  Basque  began  to  look  upon  a  new  world 
from  the  narrow  windows  of  the  old  castle.  Down  the 
valley  was  Azpeitia,  and  even  there  one  could  find 
monsters  and  evil  knights  to  slay  in  the  cause  of  Mary. 
Southward  were  the  broad  provinces  of  Spain,  full  of 
half-converted  Moors  and  Jews  and  ever-flourishino- 
vices.  Across  the  hills  and  the  seas  were  other  kino-doms, 
calling  just  as  loudly  for  a  new  champion  of  God  and 
Mary.  One  field,  far  away  at  the  edge  of  the  world, 
summoned  him  with  peremptory  voice  ;  after  all  the 
Crusades  the  sites  in  the  Holy  Land  were  still  trodden 
by  the  feet  of  blaspheming  Turks.  The  blood  began  to 
course  once  more  in  the  veins  of  the  soldier. 


4  THE  JESUITS 

During  the  winter  that  followed  his  friends  noticed 
that  he  was  making  a  wonderful  chronicle  of  the  lives  of 
Christ  and  His  saints.  He  was  skilled  in  all  courtly 
accomplishments — they  did  not  include  learning — and 
could  write,  and  illuminate  very  prettily,  sonnets  to  the 
secret  lady  of  his  inner  shrine.  Now  he  used  his  art  to 
make  a  pious  chronicle,  with  the  words  and  deeds  of 
Christ  in  vermilion  and  gold,  the  life  of  Mary  in  blue, 
and  the  stories  of  the  saints  in  the  less  royal  colours  of 
the  rainbow,  and  his  dark  pale  face  was  lit  by  a  strange 
liofht.  There  were  times  when  this  new  ligfht  flickered 
or  faded,  and  the  fleshly  queen  of  his  heart  seemed  to 
place  white  arms  about  him,  and  the  sunny  earth  fought 
with  the  faint  vision  of  a  far-off  heaven.  Then  he 
prayed,  and  scourged  himself,  and  vowed  that  he  would 
be  the  knight  of  Christ  and  Mary  ;  and — so  he  told  his 
followers  long  afterwards — the  heavy  stone  castle  shook 
and  rumbled  with  the  angry  passing  of  the  demon.  He 
told  them  also  that  he  had  at  the  time  a  notion  of  burying 
himself  in  the  Carthusian  monastery  at  Seville,  and  sent 
one  to  inquire  concerning  its  way  of  life  ;  but  such  a 
desigfn  is  so  little  in  accord  with  his  knight-errant  mood 
that  we  cannot  think  he  seriously  entertained  it. 

By  the  spring  the  struggle  had  ended  and  Ignatius — 
he  exchanged  his  worldly  name  for  that  of  a  saint-model 
— set  out  in  quest  of  spiritual  adventure.  The  "sudden 
revolution,"  as  Cretineau-Joly  calls  his  conversion,  had 
occupied  about  nine  months.  Indeed,  friends  and  foes 
of  the  Jesuits  have  conspired  to  obscure  the  development 
of  his  feelings :  the  friends  in  order  that  they  may 
recognise  a  miracle  in  the  conversion,  the  foes  in  order 
that  they  may  make  it  out  to  have  been  no  conversion 
at  all,  but  a  transfer  of  selfish  ambition  from  the  camp  to 
the  Church.  Whatever  be  the  truth  about  Inioro's  earlier 
morals,   he   had    certainly   received    a    careful   religious 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  5 

education  in  boyhood,  and  he  would   just  as    certainly 
not  learn  scepticism  at  the  court  set  up  by  Ferdinand 
and    Isabella.       His    belief    that    he    had    a    vision    of 
St.    Peter,  a  few  weeks  after  receiving  his  wound  and 
before  he  read  the  pious  books,  shows  that  he  had  kept 
a  vivid  religious  faith  in  the  camp.     Some  looseness  of 
conduct  would  not  be  inconsistent  with  this,  especially 
in  Spain,  but  the  darker  descriptions  of  his  adolescent 
ways  which  some  writers  give  are  not  justified.      "  He 
was  prone  to  quarrels  and  amatory  folly,"  is  all  that  the 
most  candid  of  his  biographers  says.      Let  us  grant  the 
hot  Basque  blood  a  quick  sense  of  honour  and  a  few 
love-affairs.     On  the  whole,  Inigo  seems  to  have  been 
an  officer  of  the  stricter  sort,  and  a  thorough  Catholic. 
Hence  we  can  understand  that,  as  earth  grows  dark  and 
cheerless  for  him,  and  the  casual  reading  brings  before 
him  in  vivid  colouring  the  vision  of  faith,  his  fervent 
imagination  is  gradually  won,  and  he  sincerely  devotes 
his  arms  to  the  service  of  Christ  and  Mary. 

Piously  deceiving  his  brother  as  to  his  destination, 
he    set   out   on  a  mule  in  the    month    of  March.      He 
would  go  to  the   shrine    of  Our   Lady  at    Montserrat, 
to   ask  a    blessing   on    his   enterprise,    and    then    cross 
the    sea    to    convert   the    Mohammedans    in    Palestine. 
His  temper  is  seen  in  an  adventure  by  the  way.      He 
fell  in  with  one  of  the  Moors  who  had  put  on  a  thin 
mantle  of  Christian  profession  in  order  that  they  might 
be  allowed  to  remain  in  Spain,  and  talked  to  him  of  Our 
Lady  of  Montserrat.      Being  far  from  the  town  and  the 
ears  of  Inquisitors,  the  Moor  spoke  lightly  of  the  Mother 
of  Christ,  and,  when  the  convert  showed^  heat,  fled  at  a 
gallop.      Ignatius  wondered,  with  his  hand  on  his  sword, 
whether  or  no  his  new  ideal  demanded  that  he  should 
follow  and  slay  the  man.      He  left  the  point  to  God,  or 
to  his  mule,  and  wds  taken  on  the  road  to  Montserrat. 


6  THE  JESUITS 

At  last  he  came  to  the  steep  mountain,  with  saw- 
like peaks,  which  rises  out  of  the  plain  some  (twenty 
miles  to  the  north-west  of  Barcelona,  with  the  famous 
shrine  of  the  Virgin  on  its  flank.  In  the  little  town  of 
Iguelada,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  he  bought  the 
rough  outfit  of  a  pilgrim — a  tunic  of  sackcloth,  a  rope- 
girdle,  'a  pair  of  rough  sandals,  a  staff,  and  a  gourd — 
and  made  his  way  up  the  wild  slopes,  among  the  sober 
cypresses,  to  the  Benedictine  monastery  which  guarded 
the  shrine.  For  three  days  he  knelt  at  the  feet  of  one 
of  the  holiest  of  the  monks,  telling,  with  many  tears, 
the  story  of  his  worldly  life.  Then  he  went  again  to 
the  town,  took  aside  a  poor-clad  beggar,  as  Francis  of 
Assisi  had  done  in  his  chronicle,  and  exchanged  gar- 
ments with  him,  putting  the  sackcloth  tunic  over  his 
rags.  It  was  the  eve  of  the  great  festival  of  Mary, 
the  Annunciation  (March  25th),  and  he  spent  the  night 
kneeling  before  the  altar,  as  he  had  read  of  good 
knights  doing  before  they  took  the  field.  In  the  mor- 
ning he  hung  his  sword  in  the  shrine  and  set  forth. 
From  that  moment  we  shall  do  well  to  forget  that 
Ignatius  had  been  a  soldier,  and  seek  some  other  clue 
to  his  conduct. 

The  next  step  in  his  journey  toward  Rome  is 
described  at  great  length  in  lives  of  the  saint,  yet  it  is 
not  wholly  intelligible.  Instead  of  going  to  Barcelona, 
where  one  took  ship,  he  went  to  Manresa,  and  his 
pilgrimage  was  postponed  for  nearly  a  year.  He  did 
not  take  the  high  road  to  Barcelona,  says  his  biographer, 
lest  he  should  meet  the  people  coming  to  the  shrine :  a 
theory  which  would  not  only  require  another  theory  to 
explain  it,  but  which  gives  no  explanation  of  the  year's 
delay.  Others  think  that  he  heard  there  was  plague  in 
the  port ;  though  the  plague  would  not  last  a  year,  and 
one  may  question  if  Ignatius  would  flee  it.     The  truth 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  7 

seems  to  be  that  the  idea  of  spenduig  his  life  in  the 
East  was  already  yielding  in  his  mind  to  another  design  : 
the  plan  of  forming  a  Society  was  dimly  breaking  on 
him.  He  had  studied  the  monastic  life  in  the  Bene- 
dictine monastery  at  Montserrat,  and  had  brought  away 
with  him  a  book,  written  by  one  of  their  abbots,  over 
which  he  would  brood  to  some  purpose.  He  had  a 
vague  feeling  that  the  appointed  field  of  adventure  might 
be  Europe. 

However  that  may  be,  he  took  a  road  that  led  away 
from  Barcelona,  and  as  he  limped  and  suffered,  for  he 
had  discarded  the  mule  and  would  make  his  pilgrimage 
afoot,  he  asked  where  he  could  find  a  hospital  (in  those 
days  a  mixture  of  hostel  and  hospital).  He  was  taken 
to  Manresa,  a  picturesque  little  town  in  one  of  the 
valleys  of  the  district,  where  he  lodged  in  the  hospital 
for  a  few  days,  and  then,  instead  of  going  to  Barcelona, 
found  an  apartment  and  became  a  local  celebrity.  The 
beggar  to  whom  he  had  given  his  clothes  had,  naturally, 
been  arrested,  and  Ignatius  was  forced  to  tell  his  strange 
story,  in  order  to  clear  the  man  and  himself.  The  story 
grew  as  it  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  it  was 
presendy  understood  that  the  dirty,  barefoot,  ill-clad 
beggar,  who  asked  a  little  coarse  bread  at  the  doors, 
and  retired  to  pray  and  scourge  himself,  was  one  of  the 
richest  grandees  of  the  eastern  provinces.  Children 
followed  "Father  Sackcloth"  about  the  streets;  men 
sneered  at  his  uncut  nails  and  his  long,  wild  black  locks 
and  thin  face ;  women  wept,  and  asked  his  prayers. 

After  a  few  months  he  found  a  cavern  outside  the 
town,  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  and  entered  upon  the 
period  of  endless  prayer  and  wild  austerity  in  which  he 
wrote  his  book,  the  Spiritual  Exercises.  He  scourged 
himself,  until  the  blood  came,  three  times  a  day  :  he  ate 
so  litde,  and  lived  so  intense  a  life,  that  he  was  some- 


8  THE  JESUITS 

times  found  unconscious  on  the  floor  of  the  cave,  and 
had  to  be  removed  and  nursed;  his  deep  black  eyes 
seemed  to  gleam  from  the  face  of  a  corpse.  Thus  he 
lived  for  six  months,  and  wrote  his  famous  book.  I 
need  not  analyse  that  passionate  guide  to  the  spiritual 
life,  or  consider  the  legend  of  its  miraculous  origin.  We 
know  from  Benedictine  writers  that  Ignatius  had  re- 
ceived at  Montserrat  a  copy  of  the  Exercitatorium  of 
their  abbot  Cisneros,  and  anyone  familiar  with  Catholic 
life  will  know  that  similar  series  of  "  meditations  "  are, 
and  always  have  been,  very  common.  There  is  an 
original  plan  in  Ignatius's  book,  and  the  period  during 
which  the  mind  must  successively  brood  over  sin  and 
hell,  virtue  and  heaven,  Christ  and  the  devil,  is  boldly 
extended  to  four  weeks.  These  are  technicalities;'  the 
deeply  original  thing  in  the  work  is  its  intensity,  and  for 
the  source  of  this  we  need  only  regard  those  six  months 
of  fierce  inner  life  in  the  cave  near  Manresa. 

In  later  years  Ignatius  claimed  that  the  general 
design  of  his  Society,  and  even  the  chief  features  of  its 
constitution,  were  revealed  to  him  in  that  cavern.  *'  I 
saw  it  thus  at  Manresa,"  he  used  to  say  when  he  was 
asked  why  such  or  such  a  feature  was  included.  In  this 
he  is  clearly  wrong.  His  Society  was,  in  essence  and 
j  details,  ^  regiment  enlisted  to  fight  Protestantism, 
and  Ignatius  certainly  knew  nothing  of  Protestantism  as 
a  formidable  menace  to  the  Pope's  rule  in  1522;  one 
may  doubt  if  he  was  yet  aware  of  the  existence  of 
Luther.  We  may  conclude  again  that  he  had  in  mind 
a  vague  alternative  to  his  mission  to  the  Mohammedans. 
Those  who  are  disposed  to  believe  that  the  Society  of 

^  A  good  study  of  the  controversy  as  to  the  indebtedness  of  Ignatius  to 
the  Benedictines,  and  even  the  Mohammedans,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
an  outsider,  will  be  found  in  H.  Midler's  Les  origines  de  la  Comiasnie  de 
Jhus  (1898).  ^  ^ 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  9 

Jesus  was  in  any  definite  sense  projected  by  him  at 
Manresa  will  find  it  hard  to  explain  why  for  five  years 
afterwards  he  still  insisted  that  his  mission  was  to  the 
Turks. 

In  January  1523  he  set  out  for  Barcelona,  trimming 
his  nails,  combing  and  clipping  his  hair,  and  exchanging 
his  sack  for  clothes  of  coarse  grey  stuff  He  did  not 
wish  to  attract  too  much  attention,  he  said.  He  was 
detained  a  few  weeks  at  Barcelona,  and  be^ored  his 
bread,  and  served  the  poor  and  the  sick,  in  the  way 
which  was  to  become  characteristic  of  the  early  Jesuits. 
On  Palm  Sunday  he  entered  Rome,  lost  in  a  crowd  of 
other  pilgrims  and  beggars,  and  from  there  he  walked 
on  foot  to  Venice,  whence  he  sailed  in  July.  Within 
six  months  he  was  back  in  Venice.  The  Franciscan 
monks  who  controlled  the  Christian  colony  at  Jerusalem 
had  sent  him  home  very  quickly,  fearing  that  his  in- 
discreet fervour  would  lead  to  trouble  with  the  Turks. 
The  whole  expedition  was  Quixotic,  if  it  was  really 
meant  to  be  more  than  a  pilgrimage,  as  Ignatius  knew 
not  a  word  of  any  language  but  Basque  and  Castilian. 
He  returned  to  Venice  in  a  thin  ragged  coat,  his  legs 
showing  flagrantly  through  his  tattered  trousers,  and  in 
this  guise  he  crossed  on  foot  to  Genoa,  in  hard  wintry 
weather.  By  the  end  of  February  he  was  again  in 
Barcelona. 

For  several  years  yet  Ignatius  will  continue  to  speak 
of  the  conversion  of  the  Turks  as  his  chief  mission,  but 
his  actions  suggest  that  the  alternative  in  his  mind  was 
growing  larger.  The  year's  experience  had  taught  him 
that  the  knight  of  the  Lord  needed  education,  and  he 
sat  among  the  boys  at  Barcelona  learning  the  Latin 
grammar  and  startling  them  by  rising  into  literal 
ecstasies  over  the  conjugation  of  the  verb  "to  love." 
He  now  dressed  in  neat  plain  clothes,   but  begged  his 


lo  THE  JESUITS 

bread  on  the  way  to  school  and  took  every  occasion  to 
preach  the  gospel.  Once,  when  he  had  converted  a 
loose  community  of  nuns,  the  fast  young  men  of 
Barcelona,  who  were  angry  at  this  interference  with 
their  pleasures,  sent  their  servants  to  waylay  him. 
They  nearly  killed  him  with  their  staves.  Many  jeered 
at  him  as  a  hypocrite  or  a  fanatic  :  many  revered  him, 
and  a  few  youths  became  his  first  disciples.  With  three 
of  these  he  went,  after  two  years'  study  in  Barcelona,  to 
the  University  of  Alcala,  and  began  his  higher  studies. 
But  he  was  so  easfer  to  make  an  end  of  this  intellectual 
preparation,  and  so  busy  with  saving  souls  and  gaining 
proselytes,  that  he  tried  to  take  simultaneously  the 
successive  parts  of  the  stately  mediaeval  curriculum,  and 
learned  very  little. 

His  first  attempt  to  found  a  Society  also  ended  in 
disastrous  failure.  Opinion  in  Alcala  was  divided  about 
"the  sackcloth  men."  Some  picturesque  figures  were 
known  in  the  religious  life  of  Spain,  but  no  one  had  yet 
seen  such  a  thing  as  this  little  band  of  youths,  led  by  a 
pale  and  worn  man  of  thirty-two,  who  went  barefoot 
from  house  to  house,  begging  their  bread,  and  passed 
from  the  schools  in  the  evening  to  the  hospitals  or  the 
homes  of  the  poor,  or  stood  boldly  in  the  public  squares 
and  told  sinners  to  repent.  It  was  an  outrage  on  the 
dignity  of  ecclesiastical  life,  and  so  they  were  denounced 
to  the  Inquisition,  and  two  learned  priests  were  sent 
from  Seville  to  examine  them.  Mystics  were  hardly 
less  obnoxious  to  the  Inquisition  than  secret  Jews  and 
Moors,  and  then  there  was  this  new  device  of  Satan 
which  was  said  to  be  spreading  in  Germany.  Ignatius 
and  his  grey-coated  young  preachers  were  arrested  and 
brought  before  the  terrible  tribunal.  Their  doctrine 
was  found  to  be  sound,  but  they  were  forbidden  to 
wear  a  uniform  dress  and  were  ordered  to  put  shoes  on 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  ii 

their  feet.     They  dyed  their  coats  different  colours,  and 
returned  to  their  work  ;  as  Jesuits  have  often  done  since. 

Four  months  afterwards,  the  officers  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion fell  on  them  again  and  put  them  in  prison.  Among 
the  women  who  sought  the  spiritual  guidance  of  Ignatius 
were  some  ladies  of  wealth,  who  wished  to  follow  his 
example.  It  is  said  that  he  did  not  consent,  and  they 
set  out,  against  his  will,  to  beg  their  bread  and  tend  the 
sick.  This  was  too  much  for  respectable  folk  in  Alcala, 
and  Ignatius  was  closely  examined  to  see  whether  he 
was  not  a  secret  Jew,  since  Christians  did  not  do  these 
things.  The  inquiry  ended  in  the  companions  being 
ordered  to  dress  as  other  students  did,  and  to  forbear 
preaching  for  four  years.  It  is  important  to  notice  how 
from  the  first  Ignatius,  relying  on  his  inner  visions,  will 
not  bend  to  any  authority  if  he  can  help  it.  He  and 
his  youths  walked  to  Salamanca,  and  resumed  their 
ways,  but  the  eye  of  the  Inquisition  was  on  them,  and 
they  were  imprisoned  again.  The  authorities  now 
fastened  on  them  a  restriction  which  may  puzzle  a 
layman  :  they  were  forbidden  to  attempt  to  distinguish 
between  mortal  and  venial  sin  until  their  theological 
studies  were  completed.  It  meant,  in  practice,  that  they 
must  not  disturb  the  gay  sinners  of  Spain  with  threats  of 
hell,  and  for  the  time  it  entirely  destroyed  the  design  of 
Ignatius.  His  disciples  fell  away,  and  Ignatius  fled  to 
a  land  where  there  were  no  Inquisitors.  He  crossed  the 
Pyrenees  and  went  the  whole  length  of  France  on  foot. 

The  seven  years  which  he  spent  at  Paris  were  of 
the  greatest  importance  in  the  life  of  Ignatius.  Of  his 
studies  little  need  be  said.  He  now  took  the  university 
courses  in  proper  succession,  and  won  his  degree  in 
1534.  But  these  studies  were  only  a  means  to  an  end, 
and  he  never  became  a  scholar.  He  discarded  books, 
wrote   a    very    poor    Latin,    and   took   long   to    master 


12  THE  JESUITS 

Italian.  For  secular  knowledge  he  had  a  pious  disdain. 
His  followers  were  to  be  learned  just  in  so  far  as  it  was 
needed  to  capture  and  retain  the  control  of  youth  and 
promote  the  authority  of  the  Pope.  The  chief  interest 
of  the  long  stay  in  Paris  is  that  he  there  founded  his 
Society,  and  the  manner  of  its  foundation  is  of  great 
importance. 

He  had  not  been  long  at  the  University  before  his 
strange  ways  set  up  the  usual  conflict  of  opinion.     Was 
he  a  hypocrite,  or  a  fool,  or  a  saint  ?     From  the  youths 
who  took  the  more  complimentary  view  of  his  ways  he 
picked  out  a  few  to  form  the  little  band  of  disciples  he 
was  always  eager  to  have,  and   put  them  through  the 
Spiritual  Exercises.     They  came  out  of  this  fiery  ordeal 
in  heroic  temper,  sold  their  little  possessions,  and  began 
to  beg  their  bread  ;  to  the  extreme  indignation  of  their 
friends  in  the  Spanish  colony.      In  order  to  save  time 
for  study,  Ignatius  used  to  go  to  the  Low  Countries  in 
the  holidays   and    beg    funds    for    his    "  poor  students " 
among   the    Spanish    merchants.     One    year — the  year 
before  Henry  viii.  set  up  the  Church  of  England — he 
went  to  London,  but  we  know  only  that  the  city  was 
very  generous  to  him.     On  these  alms  Ignatius  and  his 
disciples  maintained  their  life  of  prayer,  austerity,  and 
philanthropy,  living  in  one  of  the  colleges  among  the 
other  students  and   angling   prudently  for  souls.     The 
irritation  against  Ignatius  among  the  Spaniards  became 
so  great  that  the  Rector  was  persuaded  to  inflict  on  him 
a   public    flogging,  the    last    disgrace    of  an    unpopular 
student.      He   was    not    flogged,  however;  nor  is  there 
anything  really  miraculous,  as  some  think,  in  the  Rector's 
change  of  mind.      Ignatius  feared  the  effect  on  his  disciples 
and  had  a  private  talk  with  the  Rector  before  the  ap- 
pointed hour.      He  had  a  marvellous  power  of  persuasion 
and  penetration. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  j    13 

These  earlier  followers  seem  in  time  to  have  fallen 
away,  or  never  been  admitted  to  his  secret  designs,  and 
it  was  not  until  1530  that  he  began  to  gather  about  him 
the  men  whose  names  have  been  inscribed  in  the  history 
of  Europe.  In  1530  Ignatius  shared  his  room  with  a 
gentle  and  deeply  religious  youth  from  Savoy,  Peter 
Favre,  a  peasant's  son  who  had  already  won  the  doctor's  :f*.>^^x 
cap  and  priestly  orders,  as  pious  as  he  was  clever.  He 
had  made  a  vow  of  chastity  in  his  thirteenth  year,  and 
was  now,  in  his  twenty-fifth  year,  as  eager  to  keep  a 
clean  conscience  as  to  advance  in  learning.  He  acted 
as  philosophical  coach  to  Ignatius.  From  Aristotle  and 
Aquinas  they  passed,  in  their  nightly  talk,  to  other 
matters,  and  Favre  presently  made  the  Exercises. 

Francis  Xavier,  a  Navarrese  youth  of  high  birth, 
was  a  friend  of  Favre,  and,  like  him,  a  brilliant  student 
and  keen  hungerer  for  knowledge.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  great  refinement,  and  his  large  soft  blue  eyes 
looked  with  disdain  on  the  eccentricities  of  Ignatius ; 
he  was  not  a  little  vain  of  his  learning,  his  handsome 
person,  and  his  skill  in  running.  Who  but  Ignatius 
could  have  seen  the  Francis  Xavier  of  a  later  day, 
wearing  out  his  life  in  the  conversion  of  savages,  in  this 
elegant  and  self-conscious  scholar  ?  Francis  Thompson 
speaks  with  admiration  of  the  "holy  wiles"  by  which 
Ignatius  secured  this  gifted  and  elusive  pupil.  He  laid 
hold  of  him  by  his  vanity.  Xavier  taught  philosophy 
and  was  ambitious  to  have  his  lecture-room  full. 
Ignatius  sat  at  his  feet,  brought  others  to  the  lectures, 
and  gave  them  generous  praise.  After  a  time  Xavier 
made  the  Exercises,  and,  in  a  secret  conversation  with 
Ignatius,  was  won  to  the  plan  of  devoting  his  life  to  the 
conversion  of  the  Mohammedans — or  to  some  other 
religious  campaign. 

One  by  one  the  early  Jesuits  were  captured  by  the 


14  THE  JESUITS 

skilful  fisher  of  men.  To  the  first  two  were  soon  added 
Diego  Lainez,  a  Castilian  youth  of  great  ability  and 
quiet  strength  of  character,  a  future  General  of  the 
Society  ;  Alfonso  Salmeron,  a  fiery  and  eloquent  youth 
from  Toledo,  then  in  his  twentieth  year,  who  would 
become  one  of  the  most  learned  opponents  of  the 
Protestants ;  Nicholas  Alfonso,  from  Valladolid,  com- 
monly known,  from  his  native  village,  as  Bobadilla,  a 
fearless  and  impetuous  fighter ;  and  Simon  Rodriguez, 
a  handsome  Spanish  youth  of  noble  birth,  who  would 
prove  an  admirable  courtier  when  kings  were  to  be  won. 
Many  others  whom  Ignatius  sought  refused  to  accept 
his  stern  ideal,  and  many  were  kept  in  the  outer  courts 
of  his  temple,  as  it  were,  and  not  admitted  to  share  his 
secret  design.  The  features  of  the  coming  Society  were 
singularly  foreshadowed.  Only  these  six  out  of  all  the 
friends  and  companions  of  Ignatius  knew  anything  of 
the  great  plan  which  filled  his  mind,  and  not  one  of  the 
six  knew  which  of  the  others  were  admitted,  like  himself, 
to  the  inner  counsels  of  the  master.  Each  was  initiated 
in  the  strictest  confidence,  and  forbidden  to  speak  of  it 
to  his  most  intimate  friend.  It  was  wholly  unlike  the 
foundation  of  any  other  religious  body. 

At  last,  in  Jul}LXS34'  the  six  youths  were  permitted 
to  know  each  other  as  comrades  in  arms.  It  was  time 
to  discuss  what  form  their  crusade  should  take,  and 
Ignatius  proposed  that,  after  a  week  or  two  of  increased 
austerity  and  prayer,  they  should  make  the  vow  of  self- 
dedication  and  decide  upon  their  future.  There  is  the 
characteristic  impress  of  Ignatius  on  every  feature  of  the 
enterprise.  The  ceremony  was  not  to  be  in  one  of  the 
churches  of  Paris,  but  away  across  the  meadows  in  the 
quiet  litde  chapel  of  St.  Denis  on  Montmartre  ;  in  fact, 
in  the  crypt  underneath  the  chapel.  And  or|^_August 
i^^ththey  went  out   from   the   city  gates   in   the   early 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  15 

morning  for  what  proved  to  be  the  historic  foundation 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Paris  was  still,  at  that  time, 
a  comparatively  narrow  strip  of  town  on  either  bank  of 
the  Seine  centring  upon  the  island  which  bore  the 
cathedral  and  the  palace.  A  mile  or  two  of  meadows 
and  vineyards  lay  between  it  and  the  green  hill  of 
Montmartre,  on  the  slope  of  which  was  the  old  chapel  of 
St.  Denis,  Underneath  the  choir  was  a  small  vault-like 
chapel,  and  in  this,  on  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption  of 
the  Virgin,  the  little  band  of  fervent  southerners 
gathered  to  hear  Peter  Favre,  the  only  priest  amongst 
them,  say  the  Mass  of  the  Virgin.  At  its  close  they 
knelt  in  turns  before  the  altar,  and  each  vowed  that  he 
would  live  in  poverty  and  chastity,  and  either  go  out 
to  convert  the  'Turks  or  go  wherever  the  Pope  should 
direct.  No  rumbling  of  angry  devils  was  heard  on  this 
occasion  :  the  life  of  Paris  flowed  on  its  sparkling  way  ; 
yet  there  was  born  in  that  dim  vault  on  that  August 
morninof  one  of  the  most  singular  and  formidable  forces 
in  the  religious  life  of  Europe. 

The  Society  of  Jesus  was  thus  formed,  though  the 
seven  men  did  not  know  it,  or  adopt  any  corporate 
name.  They  broke  their  fast  and  spent  the  day  on  the 
slope  of  the  hill,  elated  with  the  joy  of  brotherhood 
and  the  promise  of  mighty  enterprise,  talking  of  the 
adventurous  future.  What  should  be  the  next  step  ? 
Again  we  find  the  stamp  of  the  peculiar  genius  of 
Ignatius  on  their  decision :  the  features  which  would 
degenerate  into  what  is  called  Jesuitry  in  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  less  sincerely  religious  men.  They  were  to 
return  to  their  studies,  their  philanthropy,  and  their 
secrecy,  for  two  years,  and  they  would  meet  at  Venjce 
at  the  beginning^oLx^^.  Ignatius  never  hurried.  He 
lived  as  if  he  intended  to  quit  the  world  very  speedily  ; 
he  acted  as  if  he  were  assured  of  long  life.     He  was 


^ 


THE  JESUITS 


founding  a  body  whose  supreme  and  distinctive  aim 
should  be  to  serve  the  Pope,  yet  he  concealed  his  work 
from  the  Pope's  representatives  as  carefully  as  if  he 
were  really  forming  an  auxiliary  troop  for  Martin 
Luther.  Let  it  be  carefully  noted,  too,  that  they  vowed 
either  to  go  to  Palestine  or  to  serve  the  Pope  in  some 
other  way  appointed  by  him.  It  seems  clear  that,  if 
Ignatius  had  not  already  abandoned  the  idea  of  a 
mission  to  the  Turks,  he  held  it  lightly.  In  Paris  he 
had  learned  that  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation  was 
spreading  over  Europe  as  fire  spreads  over  a  parched 
prairie.  Men  talked  much  of  Luther  and  Calvin,  little 
of  Mohammed. 

They  returned  to  their  colleges  and  their  hospitals 
for  two  years,  and  were  known  to  their  companions  only 
as  monks  who  were  too  ascetic  to  enter  a  monastery. 
Ignatius  practised  fearful  austerities,  and  his  followers 
fasted  and  scourged  themselves.  Xavier  looked  back 
with  such  contrition  on  his  former  fame  as  a  runner  that 
he  tied  cords  round  his  legs  until  they  bit  into  the  flesh 
and  caused  a  dangerous  malady.  Probably  the  long 
delay  was  proposed  by  Ignatius  in  the  hope  that  he 
might  add  to  the  number  of  his  followers,  but  he  found 
no  more  at  Paris  worthy  or  willing  to  be  initiated ; 
though  three — Le  Jay,  Paschase  Brouet,  and  Codure — 
were  added  after  his  departure.  He  had  gone  to  Spain 
in  the  spring  of  1535.  Those  of  the  youths  who  had 
property  to  sacrifice  had  talked  of  going  to  Spain  to 
arrange  their  affairs,  but  Ignatius  took  the  work  on 
himself.  His  health  was  poor,  he  said,  and  he  would 
try  his  native  air ;  he  was  also  eager  to  keep  them  from 
their  native  air  and  disapproving  families.  In  March  he 
walked  afoot  from  Paris  to  Loyola,  begging  his  bread  by 
the  way. 

The  report  of  his  life  had  reached  the  quiet  valley  at 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  17 

the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  he  found  his  brother  and 
many  admirers  waiting  in  the  last  stage  of  his  journey. 
He  remained  three  months  in  Azpeitia,  and,  as  no  one 
could  now  interfere  with  his  fiery  preaching,  he  urged 
his  townsmen  to  repent  and  startled  the  province.  His 
sanctity  was  now  beyond  question,  because  a  woman 
had  recovered  the  use  of  a  withered  arm  by  washing  his 
linen.  Then  he  arranged  the  affairs  of  his  disciples  and 
went  to  Venice.  Here  Hozes  and  the  Eguia  brothers 
were  added  to  the  secret  fraternity,  and  a  year  was  spent 
in  tending  the  sick  and  other  work  of  edification.  The 
year  ij_32_broke^  at  last,  aii^d^in^j^ts^  fiTSt_w^ 
disciples,  worn  and  ragged  from  the  long  journey,  joined/ 
their  master.  Walking  in  demure  pairs,  a  staff  in  one 
hand  and  a  chaplet  in  the  other,  begging  their  bread 
and  exhorting  all  they  met  to  virtue  and  repentance,  the 
six  learned  students  of  the  Paris  University  had  covered 
afoot,  in  the  depth  of  winter,  the  hundreds  of  miles 
that  lay  between  Paris  and  Venice ;  flying  before  the 
advances  of  bold  women,  beaming  under  the  abuse  of 
the  new  heretics,  facing  the  Alps  more  bravely  than 
a  Hannibal  or  a  Napoleon.  Strong  efforts  had  been 
made  to  keep  them  at  Paris.  Why  abandon  their 
precious  work  at  the  University  for  an  unknown  world  ? 
They  had  a  secret  vow,  they  said  ;  though  they  probably 
had  little  more  idea  than  Ignatius  of  going  to  Palestine. 
None  of  them  learned  Arabic  or  Turkish,  or  studied  the 
Koran  :  what  they  did  learn  was  the  Catholic  doctrine 
assailed  by  the  followers  of  Luther. 

For  a  month  or  two  the  strange  missionaries  mystified 
and  edified  Venice.  It  was  known  that  some  of  them 
were  nobles,  and  all  brilliant  scholars,  yet  they  performed 
the  most  repulsive  offices  for  the  sick,  and  at  times  put 
their  mouths  to  festering  wounds.  Cardinal  Caraffa,  a 
stern  Neapolitan   reformer,  asked   Ignatius  to  join   the 


i8  THE  JESUITS 

new  Theatine  order  which  he  had  just  founded,  and 
Ignatius  repHed  that  they  had  vowed  to  go  to  Palestine. 
They  would  remember  their  refusal  when  Caraffa  became 
Pope.  At  last,  in  the  middle  of  Lent,  Ignatius  sent  his 
followers  to  Rome  to  ask  the  Pope's  blessing  on  their 
mission.  He  would  not  go  himself,  as  he  feared  the 
enmity  of  Caraffa  and  of  the  Spanish  envoy  Ortiz,  who 
had  opposed  them  at  Paris.  There  was,  in  fact,  little 
danger  of  Ignatius  going  without  the  Pope's  blessing,  as 
a  new  war  with  the  Turk  had  broken  out,  and  it  would 
not  be  unjust  to  conclude  that  the  real  object  of  Ignatius 
was  to  bring  his  little  troop  to  the  notice  of  Paul  iii. 
Ortiz  himself  procured  them  an  audience,  and  they 
received  the  papal  blessing  to  accompany  them  to 
Palestine — if  they  could  get  there,  the  Pope  lightly  said. 
It  is  singular  that  Ignatius,  after  waiting  so  long,  should 
choose  a  time  for  their  departure  when  the  seas  were 
closed  against  them. 

They  were  ordained  priests  at  Venice,  and  then  they 
'  scattered  over  Northern  Italy,  to  allow  a  year's  grace  to 
>  the  Palestinian  mission  and  let  other  cities  see  their 
ways.  Bologna,  Ferrara,  Siena,  and  Padua — all  uni- 
versity towns — now  witnessed  the  strange  labours  of  the 
nameless  knights  of  Christ,  The  years  were  not  far 
distant  when  men  would  start  with  suspicion  at  the 
coming  of  a  "  Jesuit  "  and  wonder  what  dark  intrigue 
brought  him  amongst  them,  but  in  those  early  days  they 
seemed  the  plainest  and  most  guileless  of  ministers. 
Two  soberly  dressed,  barefooted  youths,  their  pale  faces 
warmed  by  the  smile  which  the  master  bade  them  wear 
under  the  eyes  of  men,  would  enter  the  gate  one  evening, 
covered  with  the  dust  of  long  roads,  and  mount  some 
stone  in  the  busy  street  or  square  ;  and,  when  men  and 
women  gathered  round  to  see  the  tricks  of  these  foreign 
jugglers  or  tumblers,  they  would  be  startled  to  hear  such 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  19 

fiery  preaching  as  had  not  been  heard  in  Italy  since 
the  fresh  spring-time  of  the  followers  of  Francis  and 
Dominic.  Then  the  preachers  would  beg  a  crust  of 
bread  and  a  cup  of  water,  and  ask  for  the  hospital, 
where  they  might  serve  the  sick.  They  had  no  name, 
the  inquirer  learned,  and  belonged  to  no  monastic  body  ; 
they  were  simple  knights-errant  in  the  cause  of  Christ 
and  the  poor.  The  one  feature  by  which  they  might,  to 
some  close  observer,  have  given  an  inkling  of  the  future 
was  that  they  hung  about  the  universities  and  impressed 
youths  with  their  learning ;  or  that,  while  they  served 
the  poor,  they  were  pleased  to  direct  the  consciences 
of  noble  and  wealthy  women.  Yet  who  would  suppose 
that  within  twenty  years  these  men  would  be  intriguing 
for  the  control  of  the  universities  and  shaping  the 
counsels  of  kingrs  ? 

Ignatius,  Favre,  and  Lainez  went  to  Vicenza,  and 
found  a  lodging  in  a  ruined  monastery  near  the  town. 
From  this  they  went  out  daily  to  beg,  and  tend  the  sick, 
and  startle  townsfolk  and  villagers  with  explosive  ex- 
hortations, in  broken  Italian,  to  lay  aside  their  sins. 
Again  the  Inquisition  summoned  them,  and  dismissed 
them.  At  last,  when  it  was  clear  that  the  road  to  the 
East  was  indefinitely  closed,  Ignatius  called  his  followers 
from  their  several  towns,  and  a  council  was  held  in  the 
old  convent.  The  events  of  these  early  days  are  known 
to  us  only  from  Jesuit  writers  of  the  next  generation, 
and,  discarding  only  the  miracles  with  which  they  un- 
necessarily adorn  the  ways  of  their  founders,  we  may 
follow  them  with  little  reserve.  These  men  were, 
beyond  question,  in  deadly  earnest,  though  we  shall  see 
that  some  of  them  sheltered  little  human  frailties  under 
their  hair-shirts.  But  it  is  quite  plain  that,  however 
high  and  pure  their  aim  was,  they  formed  and  carried 
their  plans  with  a  diplomacy,  almost  an  astuteness,  of 


20  \  THE  JESUITS 

which  you  will  not  find  a  trace  in  the  founding  of  any 
other  monastic  body.  One  monastic  virtue  is  con- 
jspicuously  absent  from  the  aureole  of  St.  Ignatius — holy 
simplicity. 

It  was  decided  that  Ignatius,  Favre,  and  Lainez 
should  go  to  Rome,  and  the  others  should  return  to 
work  in  their  university  cities  until  they  were  called  to 
Rome.  Before  they  parted,  however,  they  gave  them- 
selves a  name,  since  people  demanded  one.  We  are, 
said  Ignatius,  the  "  Compania  de  Jesu,"  the  "Company 
of  Jesus  "  ;  although  the  prose  of  a  later  generation  has 
translated  it  the  "Society  of  Jesus."  Then  Xavier  and 
Bobadilla  went  to  Bologna,  Rodriguez  and  Le  Jay  to 
Ferrara,  Salmeron  and  Brouet  to  Siena,  Codure  and 
Hozes  to  Padua,  to  tend  the  sick,  and  instruct  the 
children,  and  angle  for  recruits ;  and  Ignatius  and  his 
companions  went  on  foot,  in  the  depth  of  winter,  to 
Rome. 

Paul  III.  occupied  the  papal  throne  in  the  year  1537, 
and  looked  with  troubled  eyes  to  the  lands  beyond  the 
Alps,  where  the  Reformation  was  now  in  full  blast.  He 
was  by  temperament  a  Pope  of  the  Renaissance,  a  man 
of  genial  culture  and  artistic  feeling,  a  man  who  owed  his 
elevation  to  his  sister's  intimacy  with  a  predecessor,  and 
who  might,  if  the  age  had  not  turned  so  sour,  have 
carried  even  into  the  papal  apartments  the  graceful  vices 
of  his  youth.  But  there  was  now  no  mistaking  the  roll 
of  the  distant  thunder  ;  Rome  was  sobered  and  disposed 
to  put  its  house  in  order.  Paul,  knowing  that  the 
appalling  corruption  of  the  Vatican,  the  clergy,  and  the 
monks  must  cease,  or  else  the  Vatican  and  clergy  and 
monks  would  cease,  had  appointed  a  commission  of  the 
sterner  cardinals  to  examine  Luther's  indictment  of  his 
Church,  and  one  of  the  clearest  points  of  agreement  was 
that  the  unquestioned  degradation  of  the  monks  through- 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  21 

out  Christendom  must  be  severely  punished.  The 
general  feeling  was  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  mon- 
astic orders  should  be  suppressed.  It  was  therefore  a 
peculiarly  inopportune  time  to  propose  the  establishment 
of  a  new  order.  Was  Ignatius  more  holy  than  Benedict, 
or  Bruno,  or  Francis,  or  Dominic  ?  And  had  not  every 
order  that  had  yet  been  founded  fallen  into  evil  ways 
within  fifty  years  ? 

Ignatius  was  not  more  holy  than  Dominic  and 
Francis,  but  he  was  shrewder  and  more  alert  to  the 
circumstances.  He  did  not  propose  to  rush  into  the 
presence  of  Paul  iii.  He  and  his  companions  settled 
at  the  Spanish  hospital,  and  began  to  tend  the  sick  and 
instruct  the  children.  They  began  also  to  have 
influential  admirers.  "  Let  us,"  Ignatius  had  said,  as 
they  entered  Rome,  "avoid  all  relations  with  women, 
except  those  of  the  highest  rank."  In  later  years  he 
said  of  their  early  work  at  Rome  :  "We  sought  in  this 
way  to  gain  men  of  learning  and  of  position  to  our  side 
— or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  to  God's  side."  This 
identification  of  "  our "  side  and  God's  is  the  clue  to 
early  Jesuitism.  Men  who  were  convinced  of  it  might 
be  intensely  earnest  and  unworldly,  yet  act  as  if  they 
were  ambitious.  In  fact,  they  were  ambitious  to  win  the 
wealthy  and  powerful — Ignatius  says  it  repeatedly — "  for 
the  greater  glory  of  God."  And  the  work  went  forward 
with  great  speed.  They  received  a  poor  little  house  in 
a  vineyard  at  the  foot  of  the  Pincian  Hill,  and  went  out 
daily  to  minister  and  to  edify.  One  of  their  first  friends 
was  Codacio,  a  wealthy  and  important  official  of  the 
papal  court.  The  better  disposition  of  Ortiz,  the 
Spanish  envoy,  was  also  encouraged.  Ignatius  put  him 
through  the  Exercises  in  the  old  Monte  Cassino  Abbey, 
and,  when  the  strain  nearly  drove  him  mad,  entertained 
him  by  performing  some  of  the  old  Basque  dances  :  a 


22  THE  JESUITS 

subject  for  a  painter,  if  ever  there  was.  After  a  time 
the  Pope  received  Ignatius  very  affably,  encouraged  him 
to  preach,  and  found  academic  chairs  for  Favre  and 
Lainez.  Within  a  month  or  two  Ignatius  had  made  so 
much  progress  that  Roman  gossip  marked  him  as  an 
intriguer  for  the  red  hat,  which  he  was  not  wealthy 
enough  to  buy. 

Within    four    months,    or    at  Easter   1538,   Ignatius 
summoned  the  whole  of  his  followers  to  Rome.     The 
poor  little  house  in  a  vineyard  was  now  too  small,  and 
Codacio    gave    them    a    large    house    in    the    Piazza 
Margana,     From  this  they  went  out  daily  to  beg  and 
teach  and   preach,  and  to   visit  "  ladies  of  the  highest 
rank."     These  eleven  eloquent  and    learned    preachers, 
these    nobles    who    begged    their    bread    and    washed 
verminous  invalids,  soon  divided  the  Roman  world  into 
•I  ardent   admirers    and   ardent   critics.     An    Augustinian 
**"      i"*  /  friar,  in  particular,  opened  fire  on  them  from  his  pulpit. 
^  .,  Ignatius  was  "  a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing,"  he  insisted  ; 

'       let  people  inquire  at  Alcala,  and  Salamanca,  and  Paris, 
and  Venice,  and  see  whether  he  was  not  wanted  by  the 
Inquisition    here    and  there.       Friends   at  the    Vatican 
were   reminded   that  this  sort   of   thing  interfered  with 
their  good  work,  and  the  Pope  was  induced  to  inquire 
into  the  charges  ;  but  even  the  Pope's  acquittal  of  them 
did  not  silence    their  critics,  and  for  a  time  they  bore 
much  poverty  and  anxiety.      Half  of  Rome,  if  not  half  of 
-  I  "  Catholicism,  hated  the  Jesuits  from  their  first  year;  and 
it  would  be  absurd  to  think  that  this  was  due  to  their 
fervour  in  denouncing  sin.      It  was  due  in  a  very  large 
measure   to    the   diplomatic    character   of  the    work    of 
Ignatius,    which    we    perceive    so    clearly    even    in    the 
discreet  narratives  of  the  early  Jesuit  historians. 

The  infant  Society  was  delivered  from  its  perils  by 
returning  from  the  cultivation  of  the  rich  and  powerful  to 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  23 

the  service  of  the  weak  and  powerless.  We  shall 
constantly  find  the  fortunes  of  the  early  Jesuits  vacillating 
according  as  they  practise  one  or  other  of  these 
incongruous  activities,  and  we  can  quite  understand  that 
their  critics  came  to  see  an  element  of  calculation  even  in 
their  philanthropy.  By  their  brave  ministration  to  the 
poor  they  win  the  favour  of  the  rich  :  by  the  favour  of 
the  rich  they  rise  to  political  and  educational  work,  and 
the  poor  are  almost  forgotten  until  some  epidemic  of 
criticism  threatens  their  very  existence.  It  is  quite 
useless  to  deny  that  there  was  calculation  in  their 
humbler  ministration  when  we  find  Ignatius  admitting  it 
from  the  outset ;  yet  it  would  be  equally  untrue  to  deny 
that  they  served  the  poor  with  a  sincere  and  often 
heroic  humanity,  and  that  the  favour  and  power  they 
trusted  to  obtain  by  doing  so  were  not  sought  for  their 
personal  profit,  but  for  the  better  discharge  of  what  they 
conceived  to  be  a  high  mission. 

So  it  was  in  the  winter  which  closed  the  year  1538, 
in  which  their  project  ran  some  risk  of  being  buried 
under  the  stones  of  their  critics.  The  terrible  cold  of 
that  winter  led  to  a  famine  in  Rome,  and  the  followers 
of  Ignatius  spent  day  and  night  in  relieving  the  sufferers 
and  begging  alms  for  them.  Their  house  in  the  Piazza 
Margana  was  converted  into  a  hospital,  and  no  less  than 
four  hundred  destitute  men  found  a  home  in  it.  The 
sympathy  of  the  pious  slowly  returned  to  them.  "So 
happy  a  diversion  had  to  be  put  to  account,"  says 
Cretineau-Joly,  and  Ignatius  began  to  draw  up  the  rules 
of  his  Society  for  presentation  to  the  Pope.  Night  by 
night  the  eleven  priests  sat  in  council  to  determine  the 
broad  features  of  their  association  :  to  say,  especially,  if 
they  would  add  a  vow  of  obedience  to  their  vows  of 
poverty  and  chastity  and  thus  become  a  monastic  body. 
In  April  they  decided  that  they  would  have  a  Superior 


24  THE  JESUITS 

and  vow  obedience  to  him  ;  in  May  they  resolved  to 
adopt  that  masterpiece  of  the  "holy  wiles"  of  Ignatius, 
the  most  distinctive  and  most  serviceable  feature  of  the 
Society — the  vow  to  put  themselves  at  the  direct 
disposal  of  the  Pope.  Naturally  there  was,  and  is,  no 
religious  body  in  the  Catholic  Church  whose  members 
would  not  leap  with  alacrity  to  obey  any  order  of  the 
Pope,  and  think  it  an  honour  to  be  selected  for  such  a 
distinction  ;  indeed,  we  shall  see  that  no  other  religious 
ever  ventured  to  defy  or  evade  the  commands  of  Popes 
as  Jesuits  have  done.  But  we  must  observe  how 
happily  this  parade  of  obedience  fitted  the  circumstances. 
The  Pope  had  entered  upon  a  war  against  half  of 
Christendom.  Heresy  was,  like  an  appalling  tide, 
invading  even  his  southern  dominions,  and  it  was 
inevitable  that  he  should  be  attracted  by  the  proposal  to 
put  at  his  service  a  body  of  men  of  high  culture  and 
heroic  purpose,  who  would  be  ready,  at  a  word,  to  fly 
to  a  threatened  point,  to  penetrate  in  disguise  into  the 
lands  of  the  heretics,  to  whisper  in  the  ears  and  fathom 
the  counsels  of  kings,  or  to  bear  the  gospel  to  the  new 
countries  beyond  the  seas. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  famous  Jesuit 
Constitutions,  which  were  not  completed  and  printed 
until  1558.  A  short  summary  of  their  proposals  was 
handed  by  Ignatius,  in  September,  to  Cardinal  Contarini, 
who  would  present  it  to  the  Pope.  It  was  read  and 
approved  by  one  of  the  Pope's  monk-advisers,  and 
Contarini  then  read  it  himself  to  Paul  iii.  "  The  finger 
of  God  is  here,"  the  Pope  is  reported  to  have  said,  and 
he  appointed  three  cardinals  to  examine  the  document 
with  care.  Unfortunately  for  Ignatius,  one  of  the  three, 
Cardinal  Guiddiccioni,  was  so  disgusted  with  the  state 
of  the  monastic  orders  that  he  would  not  even  read  the 
document.      It  seemed  to  him  preposterous    to   add   to 


THE  ORIGIN   OF  THE  SOCIETY      ^<^^^ 

their  number  at  a  time  when  their  corruption  was  laiining 
the  Church.  In  that  sense  he  and  his  colleagues 
reported  to  the  Pope,  and  Ignatius  betook  himself,  by 
prayer  and  good  works,  to  a  strenuous  assault  upon  the 
heavens,  that  some  miracle  might  open  the  eyes  of  the 
cardinal.  And  about  a  year  later,  the  Jesuit  historians 
say,  the  hostility  of  Guiddiccioni  was  miraculously 
removed.  He  read  the  document,  and  was  enchanted 
with  it;  and  on  27th  September  1540  the  bull 
"  Regimini  militantis  Ecclesiae"  placed  the  Society  of  J 
Jesus  at  the  service  of  the  Counter- Reformation. 

It  need  hardly  be  added  that  the  "miracle"  is 
susceptible  of  a  natural  explanation.  There  is  a  curt 
statement  in  Orlandini,  one  of  the  first  historians  of  the 
Society,  that  during  the  year  1540  letters  came  to  Rome 
from  all  the  towns  where  the  followers  of  Ignatius  had 
already  worked,  telling  the  marvellous  results  of  their 
preaching.  Ignatius  had  done  much  more  than  pray. 
Many  a  time  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  chapters  we 
shall  find  a  shower  of  testimonial-letters  falling  upon  a 
town  where  there  is  opposition  to  the  admittance  of 
the  Jesuits,  and  they  were  not  "unsolicited  testimonials." 
Contarini,  too,  would  not  lightly  resign  himself  to 
defeat  by  his  brother-cardinal.  Codacio,  Ortiz,  and 
many  another,  would  help  the  work,  under  the  discreet 
guidance  of  Ignatius.  Long  before  the  Society  was 
authorised, ^the  Pope  was  induced  to  employ  the  Jesuits 
for  important  missions.  He  had  chosen  Rodriguez  and 
Xavier,  at  the  pressing  request  of  the  King  of  Portugal, 
to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  Indies;  he  had  sent  Lainez 
and  Favre,  at  the  prayer  of  a  distinguished  cardinal, 
to  fight  the  growth  of  Protestantism  in  Parma.  Other 
members  of  the  litde  group  had  gone  to  discharge 
special  missions,  and  glowing  reports  of  their  success 
came   to    Rome.     The    Pope  was  won,  and,   when  the 


26  THE  JESUITS 

Pope  willed,  it  would  hardly  need  a  miracle  to  induce 
Cardinal  Guiddiccioni  to  read  a  document  which  it  was 
his  office  to  read.  Indeed,  the  statement  that  he 
refused  for  twelve  months  to  read  a  paper  which  the 
Pope  enjoined  him  to  read  is  incredible ;  it  was  a 
good  pretext  for  a  change  of  mind,  and  for  a  miracle. 
The  Society  of  Jesus  was  founded  on  diplomacy. 


CHAPTER    I  I 

THE  FIRST  JESUITS 

From  this  account  of  the  influences  which  shaped  the 

character  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  before  and  during  its 

birth  we  may  derive  our  first  clue  to  the  singular  history 

of  the    Jesuits.     They  might    not   implausibly  make   a 

proud  boast  of  the  fact  that  they  have  always  borne  the 

intense    hostility  of   heretics    and    unbelievers,  but    the 

very  reason  they  assign  for  this — their  effective  service 

to    the    Church — prevents    them    from    explaining  why 

they   have,  from    their  foundation,   incurred   an   almost 

equal  enmity  on  the  part  of  a  very  large  proportion  of 

the  monks,  priests,  and   laymen  of   their  own  Church. 

"Jealousy,"  they  whisper;  but  since  no  other  body  in 

the  Church,  however  learned  or  active,  has  experienced 

this  peculiar  critical  concentration  of  its  neighbours,  we 

are  bound   to  seek   a  deeper  explanation.     There    are 

distinctive  features  of  the  Jesuit   Society  which  irritate 

alike  the  pious  and  the   impious,  the  Catholic  and  the 

non-Catholic. 

We  begin  to  perceive  these  features  at  the  very  birth 

of  the  Society.      Its  founder  has  the  temper  of  a  monk, 

but  the  times   will   not  permit    the   establishment  of  a 

monastic   order   of   the    old    type ;    a  new    regiment    of 

soldiers  of  the  Church    must  engage    in   active  foreign 

service,  not  degenerate  into  fatness  in  domestic  barracks. 

The  success  of  Ignatius  was  due  to  the  fact  that  he  had 

other  qualities  than  those  of  the  monk,  and  he  met  the 

27 


28  THE  JESUITS 

new  conditions  with  remarkable  shrewdness.      It  seems 
to  me  a  mistake  to  conceive  him  as  a  soldier  above  all 
things.       He    was    pre-eminently    a    diplomatist.      He 
infused  into  the  Society  the  energy  and  fearlessness  of 
the  soldier,  but  he  also  equipped  it  with  the  weapons  of 
the  diplomatist,  or,  one  might  say,  of  the  secret-service 
man.      He  was  a  most  sincerely  and  unselfishly  religious 
man,    but    he    used,  and  taught   others  to  use,  devices 
which  the  profoundly  religious  man  commonly  disdains. 
The  Jesuits  were  Jesuits  from  the  start.     It  is  a  truism, 
a  fulfilment  of   the    known  command  of    Ignatius,   that 
they  sought  the  favour  of  the  rich  and  powerful ;  it  is  a 
fact  lying  on  the  very  surface  of  their  history,  as  written 
by  themselves,  that  they  accommodated  their  ideals  to 
circumstances  as  no  other  religious  order  had  ever  done 
in  the  first  decades  of  its  life ;    it  is  the  boast  of  their 
admirers  that  they  used  ''holy  wiles  "  in  the  attainment 
of  their  ends.     This  stamp  was  impressed  on  them  by 
inheritance   from    their   sire   and   the  pressure  of  their 
surroundings.     These    things  were    consecrated   by  the 
undoubted    sincerity   of    the    early    Jesuit    ideal ;    they 
wanted  power   only  for  the  service  of   Christ   and  the 
salvation  of  men.     What   happened  later  was  that  the 
inner  fire,   the  glow    of   which  sanctified  these  worldly 
manoeuvres  in  the  mind  of  the  first  Jesuits,  grew  dim 
and   languid,  and  the  traditional    policy  was  developed 
until  even  crime  and  vice  and  hypocrisy  were  held  to  be 
lawful  if  they  contributed  to  the  power  of  the  Jesuits. 

An  examination  of  the  rules  and  the  activity  of  the 
early  Jesuits  will  make  this  clear.  The  Constitutions 
of  the  Society  were  not  completed  by  Ignatius  until 
several  years  after  the  establishment,  and  they  were 
afterwards  modified  and  augmented  by  Lainez,  a  less 
religious  man  than  Ignatius,  but  it  will  be  useful  to 
consider  at   once  their   distinctive  and    most  important 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS  29 

features.  In  the  main  they  follow  the  usual  lines  of 
monastic  regulations,  and  many  points  which  are  ascribed 
to  the  soldier  Ignatius  and  usually  held  to  be  distinctive 
of  his  Society  are  ancient  doctrines  of  the  monastic  world  ; 
such  are,  the  duties  of  blind  obedience,  of  detachment 
from  family  and  country,  and  of  surrendering  one's 
personality.  The  famous  maxim,  that  a  Jesuit  must 
have  no  more  will  than  a  corpse,  is  familiar  in  every 
monastic  body,  and  is  even  found  in  the  rules  of 
Mohammedan  brotherhoods.  Some  writers  have  con- 
jectured that  Ignatius  borrowed  much  from  the  Moorish 
fraternities,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  he  could  have 
any  knowledge  of  them,  and  the  parallels  are  not  im- 
portant. In  any  case,  the  story  of  the  Society  will  very 
quickly  show  us  that  this  grim  theory  of  blind  obedience 
and  self-suppression  was  not  carried  out  in  practice  ; 
even  the  earliest  Jesuits  were  by  no  means  will-less 
corpses  and  men  who  sacrificed  their  affections  and 
individuality. 

Omitting  points  of  small  technical  interest,  I  should 
say  that  the  most  significant  features  of  the  Jesuit  Con- 
stitutions are  :  the  establishment  of  a  large  body  of  priests 
(Spiritual  Coadjutors)  between  the  novices  and  the 
professed  members,  the  extraordinary  provisions  by 
which  a  superior  gets  an  intimate  knowledge  of  his 
subjects,  the  stress  on  the  duty  of  teaching,  the  distinc- 
tion between  a  "house  "and  a  "  college,"  the  deliberate 
recommendation  to  prefer  youths  of  wealthy  or  dis- 
tinguished families  (ctrteris  pai'ibus)  to  poor  youths, 
the  despotic  power  and  lifelong  appointment  of  the 
General,  the  fallacious  and  imposing  vow  of  direct 
obedience  to  the  Pope,  and  the  absence  of  "choir." 
These  primitive  and  fundamental  features  of  the  Society, 
taken  in  conjunction  with  the  special  privileges  which 
the  Society  gradually  wheedled  from  the  Popes,  go  far 


30  THE  JESUITS 

toward  explaining  its  great  material  success  and  its 
moral  deterioration.  Some  of  these  points  need  no 
explanation,  or  have  already  been  explained,  and  a  few 
words  will  suffice  to  show  the  effect  of  the  others. 

First  as  to  the  Spiritual  Coadjutors.  One  who 
aspires  to  enter  the  Society  passes  two  years  of  trial  as 
a  "  novice,"  then  takes  "simple"  (or  dissolvable)  vows 
and  becomes  a  "scholastic"  (student).  In  the  other 
monastic  bodies,  which  now  have  simple  vows,  the 
aspirant  takes  his  "solemn"  (or  indissoluble)  vows  three 
years  afterwards,  before  he  becomes  a  priest.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  Jesuits  is  that  they  defer  the  taking 
of  the  "solemn"  vows  for  a  considerable  number  of 
years,  and  they  thus  have  a  large  body  of  priests  who 
are  not  rigidly  bound  to  the  Society  and  cannot  hold 
important  office  in  it.  This  gives  the  General,  who 
has  a  despotic  power  of  dismissing  these  Spiritual  Coad- 
jutors, a  very  lengthy  period  for  learning  the  intimate 
character  of  men  before  they  are  admitted  to  the  secrets 
of  the  Society. 

Then  there  is  the  remarkable  scheme  of  spying,  tale- 
bearing, and  registering  by  which  this  knowledge  of 
men  is  secured.  The  aspirant  must  make  a  general 
confession  of  his  life  to  the  superior,  or  some  priest 
appointed  by  him,  when  he  enters  the  Society.  He  is 
from  that  day  closely  observed  and  subjected  to  extra- 
ordinary tests,  and  a  strict  obligation  is  laid  on  each  to 
tell  the  faults  and  most  private  remarks  of  his  neighbour. 
The  local  superiors  then  send  periodical  full  reports  on 
each  man  to  the  headquarters  at  Rome,  where  there 
must  be  a  bureau  not  unlike  the  criminal  intelligence 
department  of  a  great  police-centre  :  except  that  the 
good  and  the  mediocre  are  as  fully  registered  as  the 
suspects. 
^  The  important    place   assigned    to    teaching    in    the 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS  31 

programme  of  the  Society  also  leads  to  serious  modifica- 
tions of  the  monastic  ideal.  Every  order  has  some  device 
or  other  by  which  it  escapes  the  practical  inconveniences 
of  its  vow  of  poverty,  but  the  Jesuits  have  gone  beyond 
all  others.  They  have  drawn  a  casuistic  distinction 
between  a  "college"  and  a  "house  of  the  professed," 
and  have  declared  that  the  ownership  of  the  former  is 
not  inconsistent  with  their  vow  of  poverty.  The  result 
is  that  they  may  heap  up  indefinite  wealth  in  the  shape 
of  colleges  and  their  revenues,  yet  boast  of  their  vow 
of  poverty.  The  various  devices  of  the  monastic  bodies 
to,  at  the  same  time,  retain  and  disclaim  the  ownership 
of  their  property  are  many  and  curious.  This  is  the 
one  instance  of  a  monastic  body  boldly  saying  that  its 
vow  is  consistent  with  the  ownership  of  great  wealth. 
Hence  the  mercantile  spirit  which  will  at  once  spread  in 
the  Society. 

The  deliberate  counsel  to  prefer  rich  or  noble  youths 
to  poor,  when  their  other  qualifications  are  equal,  is  a 
further  obvious  source  of  material  strength  and  moral 
weakness;  we  shall  soon  find  them  making  wealth,  or 
social  standing,  or  talent,  the  first  qualification.  The 
exemption  from  "choir"  (or  chanting  the  psalms  in 
choir  for  several  hours  a  day)  falls  in  the  same  category. 
When  we  add  to  these  elements  of  their  Constitutions 
the  extraordinary  privileges  they  secured  from  the  Popes 
in  the  course  of  a  decade  or  two,  we  have  the  prelimin- 
ary clues  to  the  story  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Society. 
They  were  allowed  to  grant  degrees  in  their  colleges 
(and  so  ruin  and  displace  universities) ;  they  were 
declared  exempt  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  local 
authorities,  spiritual  or  secular ;  they  might  encroach  on 
the  sphere  of  any  existing  monastery  ;  and  they  received 
many  other  powers  which  enabled  them  to  pose  as 
unique  representatives  of  the  Papacy. 


'/ 


32  THE  JESUITS 

The  tendency  which   we  thus  detect  in  the  legisla- 
tion of  the   Society  is   equally   visible   in   much   of  the 
personal    conduct  of  its   founder,   and    soon    shows    its 
dangers  in  the  lives  of  his  less  fervent  followers.     We 
have  seen  how  the  sanction  of  the  Society  was  secured, 
and  we  must  note  that  Ignatius  was  not  more  ingenuous 
in  obtaininor  control  of  it.     The  conventional  account  of 
his  appointment  to  the    office   of   General  is  edifying. 
About   Easter    1541    he    summoned    to   Rome,    for  the 
.  purpose  of  electing  a  General,  the  nine  fathers  who  had 
[  taken  the  solemn  vows.     Four  were  unable  to  come,  but 
they    sent,    or    had    left    at    Rome,    written    votes,   and 
Ignatius  was  unanimously  elected.     He  protested,  how- 
ever,  that   he   was    unworthy    to    hold    the    ofifice,   and 
compelled  them  to  hold  a  second  ballot.     At  this  ballot 
he  received  two-thirds  of  the  votes,  three  being  cast  for 
,  Favre.      He  then  consulted  his  confessor,  and  was  told 
:  to  accept  the  office ;  and  for  several  days  afterwards  he 
.  washed  the  dishes  and  discharged  the  humblest  offices. 
Orlandini    naively    confesses,   however,   that   at   the 
election  Ignatius  gave  a  blank  vote,  and  we  can  hardly 
suppose  that  he  was  so  far  lost  in  contemplation  as  to 
be  unaware  that  a  blank  vote  was  a  vote  for  himself. 
Further,  the  result  of  the  second  ballot  plainly  suggests 
that,  if  Ignatius  had  again  refused  to  accept  the  office, 
Favre   would   have   been   appointed.      It   is  difficult  to 
doubt  that  he  intended  from  the  first  to  hold  the  office 
of  General,  and  indeed  it  would  have  been  ludicrous  for 
them   to  appoint  any    other.       But    Ignatius    knew  his 
young  followers,  and  he  seems  to  have  acted  in  this  way 
in  order  that  they  might  place  the  authority  in  his  hands 
in  the  most  emphatic  manner.     They  are  described  in 
the  chronicles  as  little  less   than  angelic,  but  we  shall 
presently    find   that  some   of  them   were    very   human, 
especially  in  the  matter  of  obedience,  and  that  at  the 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS  33 

death  of  Ignatius  they  quarrel  like  petty  princes  for 
the  succession.  Ignatius  was  piously  diplomatic.  He 
would  use  his  power  unreservedly  in  the  cause  of  Christ 
and  the  Pope,  but  it  is  important  to  note  how  from  the 
start  the  founder  of  the  Society  employs  casuistry  or 
diplomacy  in  getting  power. 

During  the  next  fifteen  years  Ignatius  remained  at 
Rome,  making  only  three  short  and  relatively  un- 
important missions  into  Italy.  They  had  moved  from 
the  house  in  the  Piazza  Margana  to  the  foot  of  the 
Capitoline  Hill,  where  the  famous  church  of  the  Gesu 
now  is.  The  old  church  of  Sta  Maria  della  Strada  had 
been  given  to  them,  and  Codacio  (who  had  joined  the 
Society  and  given  his  wealth  to  it)  had  built  a  house 
beside  it  for  them.  When  Sta  Maria  proved  too  small, 
they  proposed  to  build  a  larger  church,  and  nearly 
secured  the  services  of  Michael  Aneelo :  but  the  actual 
Gesu  was  begun  in  1568  by  Cardinal  Alexander 
Farnese. 

From  their  house  beside  the  old  church  the  keen 
eyes  of  the  General  followed  the  travels  of  his  subjects 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  kept  watch  on  Rome.  He 
was  now  approaching  his  fiftieth  year :  a  bald,  worn 
man,  with  piercing  black  eyes  in  his  sallow  face,  con- 
cealing an  immense  energy  and  power  of  intrigue  under 
his  humble  appearance.  Under  his  eye  the  novices 
were  trained,  and  it  was  characteristic  that  he  used  to 
protest,  when  others  urged  him  to  expel  an  unruly 
brother,  that — to  put  it  in  modern  phrase — he  liked  a 
little  "  devil "  in  his  novices.  One  of  the  first  was 
young  Ribadeneira,  a  cardinal's  page,  a  noble  by  birth. 
He  had  come  to  their  house  one  day  when  he  was  play- 
ing truant,  and  had  been  caught  by  the  romance  of  the 
life.  He  was  only  fourteen  years  old,  yet  Ignatius 
received  him  and  bore  his  fits  of  temper  and  rebellion 
3 


34  THE  JESUITS 

until  he  became  a  useful  and  obedient  member.  Be- 
tween the  fiery  Spanish  boy  and  the  aged  and  simple 
Codacio,  the  former  papal  official,  there  was  every  shade 
of  character  to  be  studied  and  humoured.  The  younger 
novices — they  went  down  to  the  age  of  eleven— were 
encouraged  to  laugh  and  play,  and  come  to  the  General's 
room  to  have  fruit  peeled  for  them  ;  perhaps  on  the  very 
day  on  which  he  was  stirring  the  Pope  to  set  up  an 
Inquisition  on  the  Spanish  model  at  Rome  or  in 
Portugal.  He  loved  the  flowers  of  their  garden,  and 
tender  ladies  had  no  more  sympathetic  confidant.  Great 
austerities,  of  the  Manresa  type,  he  rigorously  forbade. 
*  The  Jesuit  was  to  be  neat,  clean,  cheerful,  strong, 
industrious,  guarded  in  speech — and  obedient.  When 
it  was  necessary  to  strike,  he  struck  at  once.  One  night, 
when  the  prefect  of  the  house  came  to  make  his  report, 
it  appeared  that  one  of  the  novices  (a  young  nobleman) 
had  ridiculed  the  excessive  zeal  of  another.  Brother 
Zapata  was  at  once  summoned  from  bed  and  put  out  of 

doors. 

His  personal  life  was  simple,  to  the  eye.  A  Bible,  a 
breviary,  and  an  Imitation  of  Christ  were  the  only 
books  in  his  poor  chamber,  which  is  still  shown  to  the 
visitor ;  and  of  these  the  breviary  was  not  used,  as  he 
wept  so  much  in  reading  the  office  that  he  endangered 
his  sight,  and  the  Pope  excused  him  from  reading  it.  He 
spent  the  first  four  hours  of  his  early  day  in  meditation 
and  the  saying  of  Mass,  then  worked  until  noon,  when 
all  dined  together,  in  silence,  and  afterwards  spent  an 
hour  in  conversation  under  his  observant  eye.  Then  he 
returned  to  his  desk,  or  took  his  stick  and  his  sombrero, 
and  limped  to  the  hospital,  or  to  the  houses  of  the  very 
poor  or  the  rich,  or  to  the  chambers  of  cardinals  or 
papal  officials.  Many  a  jeer  and  curse  followed  him  as 
he  walked,  in  neat  black  cloak,  with  downcast  eyes  and 


THE  FIRST   JESUITS  ,35 

grave  smile,  courteous  to  every  beggar  or  noble  who 
addressed  him.  Rome  was  rich  with  monuments  of  his 
philanthropy — schools,  orphanages,  rescue-homes,  etc.  ; 
but  the  fierce  hostility  never  died,  and  at  times  it  rose 
to  the  pitch  of  a  gale.  After  his  round  of  visits  he 
limped  back,  grave  and  humble,  to  the  house  for  the 
silent  evening  meal.  When  the  novices  were  abed,  the 
prefect  came  to  give  him  a  minute  account  of  the  day's 
life  in  the  house,  and,  when  the  prefect  was  abed,  the 
large  eyes  still  flashed  in  the  worn,  olive-tinted  face. 
He  slept  only  four  hours  a  night. 

But  all  these  pages  of  the  written  biography  of 
Ignatius  are  of  less  interest  than  the  unwritten.  To 
understand  his  real  life  during  those  fifteen  years  of 
twenty-hour  workdays  you  have  to  study  the  adventures 
of  his  colleagues  far  away  :  to  mark  how  the  hostility 
of  bishops  and  doctors  and  princes  is  disarmed  by  a 
papal  privilege  or  a  papal  recommendation,  how  the 
Protestant  plague  cannot  break  out  anywhere  but  a 
Jesuit  appears,  how  the  most  nicely  fitted  man  is  sent 
for  each  special  mission,  how  the  man  disappears  when 
there  is,  righdy  or  wrongly,  a  cry  of  scandal,  how  the 
long  white  arms  of  Ignatius  Loyola  seem  to  stretch  over 
the  planet  from  Sta  Maria  della  Strada,  near  the  Pope's 
palace.  This  vast  and  obscure  activity  of  the  General 
will  be  best  gathered  from  a  short  survey  of  the  fortunes 
of  the  Jesuits  during  his  reig-n. 

The  first  mission  of  interest  to  us,  though  not  quite 
the  first  in  point  of  time,  was  the  sending  of  two  Jesuits 
to  the  British  Isles.  It  seemed  that  England  was  lost, 
and  all  that  could  be  done  was  to  resist  Henry's  attempt 
to  stamp  out  the  old  faith  in  Ireland  and  persuade  James 
V.  to  follow  his  profitable  example  in  Scotland.  The 
mission  was  perilous,  for,  on  the  word  of  these  Jesuits  of 
the  time,  nearly  every  chief  in  Ireland  had  gone  over  to 


36  THE  JESUITS 

Protestantism,  and  in  Scotland  the  nobles  and  officials 
were  looking  with  moist  lips  at  the  fat  revenues  of  the 
monasteries.  The  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  who  had  fled 
to  Rome,  asked  the  Pope  to  send  lwo~J^^uIts  toTiis 
country,  and  Codure  and  Salmeron  were  appointed. 
Codure  died,  however,  during  the  negotiations,  and 
Paschase  Brouet  was  named  in  his  place.  As  usual, 
Ignatius  chose  his  men  with  shrewdness.  Brouet,  the 
"angel  of  the  Society,"  was  the  counterpart  of 
Salmeron 's  vigour  and  learning.  They  were  granted 
the  privileges  of  Nuncii  by  the  Pope,  though  Ignatius 
directed  them  to  mention  these  privileges  only  when  the 
success  of  the  mission  required.  In  fact,  he  gave  them 
a  written  paper  of  instructions  as  to  their  personal 
behaviour  when,  on  loth  September  1541,  they  left  for 
Paris  and  Edinburgh.  They  were  to  travel  as  poor 
Jesuits — but  the  wealthy  young  noble  Zapata  was  per- 
mitted to  accompany  and  care  for  them. 

What  the  precise  aim  of  this  mission  was  we  do  not 
know,  but  it  was  from  every  point  of  view  a  complete 
failure.  It  is,  of  course,  represented  as  a  success,  and 
its  purpose  is  said  to  have  been  merely  to  hearten  the 
suffering  Irish  people  in  their  resistance  and  convey 
to  them  indulgences  and  absolutions.  But  from  the 
circumstances  of  the  time  and  the  duration  of  the 
mission  we  may  be  sure  that  the  two  Jesuits  learned 
very  little  English,  and  less  or  no  Gaelic,  so  that  the 
idea  seems  absurd.  In  Scotland,  certainly,  their  mission 
was  political.  They  saw  James  at  Stirling  Castle,  and 
easily  got  from  him  an  assurance  that  he  would  resist 
the  allurements  of  Henry  viii.  What  they  trusted  to  do 
in  Ireland  we  are  not  informed,  and  it  seems  most 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  were  to  see  the  chiefs 
and  stiffen  them  in  their  opposition  to  England.  This 
they  wholly  failed  to  do,  for   the  leading  men  would 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS  37 

have  nothing  to  do  with  them.  The  customary  Catholic 
version  of  the  enterprise  is  that  they  happily  accom- 
plished their  mission,  traversed  "  the  whole  of  Ireland  " 
(as  even  Francis  Thompson  says),  consoling  and  ab- 
solving, and  went  home  to  report  success.  One  fears 
that  this  account  may  be  typical  of  these  early  Jesuit 
reports  of  missions.  To  learn  Gaelic  and  traverse  the 
whole  of  Ireland,  or  any  large  part  of  it,  in  thirty-four 
days  (Orlandini),  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  in  circum- 
stances which  compelled  them  to  travel  with  the  greatest 
prudence,  would  assuredly  be  a  miracle,  especially  when 
we  are  told  that  for  some  time  even  the  common  folk 
shrank  from  them,  and  it  is  hinted  that  the  scattered 
Irish  priests  were  unfriendly. 

Apparently  they  travelled  a  little  in  disguise,  or  hid 
in  the  farms  here  and  there,  for  a  few  weeks,  granting 
indulgences  and  dispensations,  probably  through  some 
Gaelic  interpreter,  until  the  English  officials  heard  of 
their  presence  and  put  a  price  on  their  heads.  The 
Jesuit  narrative  credits  them  with  the  bold  idea  of  going 
to  London  and  bearding  the  wicked  Henry  in  his  palace. 
Their  behaviour  was  singularly  prudent  for  men  with 
such  exalted  ideas.  Leaving  Ireland,  possibly  at  the 
entreaty  of  the  Irish,  as  soon  as  the  search  for  them 
grew  hot,  they  returned  to  Scotland,  and  finding  that 
country  also  aflame,  they  went  on  at  once  to  Paris. 
There  they  received  orders  to  return  to  Scotland  and 
discharge  a  secret  mission  similar  to  that  they  had  had 
in  Ireland.  They  "  hesitated  and  informed  the  Pope  of 
the  state  of  things  in  Scotland,"  says  the  Jesuit 
historian  ;  in  fact,  they  remained  in  Paris  until  the  Pope 
allowed  them  to  return  to  Rome.  If  any  be  disposed 
to  criticise  their  conduct,  he  may  be  reminded  that 
Brouet  and  Salmeron  had  spent  several  weeks  in  Ireland 
at  the  risk  of  their  lives.     However,  it  is  plain  that  we 


38  THE  JESUITS 

have  to  look  closely  into  these  early  Jesuit  accounts  of 
missions  which  covered  the  infant  Society  with  glory. 
A  prudent  examination  of  them  discovers  features  which 
have  been  carefully  eliminated  from  later  Jesuit,  or  pro- 
Jesuit,  works  on  the  subject. 

As  Henry  viii.  died  in  1547,  and  Edward  vi.  in 
1553,  it  may  seem  singular  that  Ignatius  did  not,  when 
the  Catholic  Mary  acceded  to  the  throne,  at  once  dis- 
patch a  band  of  his  priests  to  help  in  restoring  the 
old  faith.  Neither  Orlandini  nor  his  discreet  follower, 
Cretineau-Joly,  throws  any  light  on  the  mystery,  but  a 
few  important  hints  may  be  gathered  from  the  more 
candid  early  Jesuit  historian  Polanco,  a  close  associate 
of  Ignatius,  and  the  full  solution  is  indicated  in  Burnet's 
History  of  the  Refoj'-ination  (ii.  526,  in  the  Oxford 
edition).  This  rare  discovery  of  an  independent 
document  suggests  that  the  early  story  might  read 
somewhat  differently  in  many  particulars  if  we  were  not 
forced  to  rely  almost  entirely  on  Jesuit  authorities. 

From  the  brief  statements  scattered  over  the  various 
volumes  of  Polanco's  Historia  Societatis  it  appears  that 
from  1553  until  his  death  Ignatius  made  the  most 
strenuous  efforts  to  secure  admission  into  England. 
Cardinal  Pole,  it  seems,  asked  the  prayers  of  Ignatius 
for  his  success  when  he  was  summoned  to  England,  and, 
when  Ignatius  died  and  Lainez  again  approached  Pole, 
the  cardinal  pointedly  replied  that  the  only  way  in  which 
the  Jesuits  could  aid  him  was  by  their  prayers.  In  the 
meantime  (1554)  Ignatius  pressed  Father  Araoz,  who 
was  in  great  favour  at  the  Spanish  court,  to  urge  Philip, 
and  induce  ladies  of  the  court  to  urge  him,  to  take  Jesuits 
to  England.  In  1556  he  sent  Father  Ribadeneira,  a 
courtly  priest,  to  join  Philip  in  Belgium  and  press  the 
request,  but  the  reply  was  always  that  Pole  was  opposed* 
to  admitting  the  Jesuits.     Polanco  makes  it  quite  clear 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS  39 

that  Pole  resisted  all  the  efforts  of  Ignatius  from  1554  to 

1556. 

Burnet  supplies  the  solution  of  the  mystery.  A 
friend  of  his  discovered  a  manuscript  at  Venice,  from 
which  it  appears  that  Ignatius  had  overreached  himself 
and  aroused  the  hostility  of  the  cardinal.  He  had 
writtten  to  Pole  that,  as  Queen  Mary  was  restoring 
such  monastic  property  as  had  fallen  to  the  throne, 
it  would  be  advisable  to  entrust  this  to  the  Jesuits, 
since  the  monks  were  in  such  bad  odour  in 
England ;  and  he  added  that  the  Jesuits  would  soon 
find  a  way  to  make  other  possessors  of  monastic 
property  disgorge.  Pole  refused  their  co-operation 
and  left  the  Jesuits  angry  and  disappointed.  The 
historian  cannot  regard  an  anonymous  manuscript  as 
in  itself  deserving  of  credence,  but  the  statement  very 
plausibly  illumines  the  situation.  I  may  add  that  in 
1558  Father  Ribadeneira  was  actually  smuggled  into 
England  in  the  suite  of  Count  Gomez  de  Figueroa,  who 
had  gone  to  console  the  ailing  Queen. ^  The  count 
was  a  warm  patron  of  the  Jesuits,  but  Queen  Mary  died 
soon  after  his  arrival,  and  the  last  hope  of  the  Jesuits 
was  extinguished. 

We  cannot  examine  with  equal  freedom  all  the 
chronicles  of  early  Jesuit  activity,  and  must  be  content 
to  cull  from  the  pages  of  the  Historia  Societatis  Jesti, 
the  first  section  of  which  is  written  by  Father  Orlandini, 
such  facts  as  may  enable  us  to  form  a  balanced  judgment 
of  the  Society  under  Ignatius.  Italy  was,  naturally,  the 
first  and  chief  theatre  of  their  labours,  and  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years  they  spread  from  the  turbulent  cities  of 
Sicily  to  the  foot  of  the  Alps.  I  have  already  described 
the  work  of  Ignatius  at  Rome,  and  need  add  only  that, 

^  See    Ribadeneira's   Historia  Ecclesiastica   del  Scisma   del  Reyno  de 
Inglaterra  (158S),  L.  ii.  ch.  xxii. 


40  THE  JESUITS 

as  Orlandini  tells  us,  he  was  one  of  the  most  urgent  in 
pressing  the  reluctant  Pope  to  "reform"  the  Roman 
Inquisition,  or  to  equip  it  with  the  dread  powers  of  the 
Spanish  tribunal.  At  the  very  time  when  he  was  devising 
pleas  for  toleration  in  Protestant  and  pagan  lands,  he 
was  urging  that  in  Italy  and  Portugal  there  should  be 

I  set  up  the  most  inhuman  instrument  of  intolerance  that 
civilisation  has  ever  known.  The  psychology  of  his 
attitude  is  simple  ;  he  was  convinced  that  he  was  asking 
tolerance  for  truth    and  intolerance    for   untruth.     The 

■  liberal-minded  Romans  were  not  persuaded  of  the  justice 
of  his  distinction,  and  the  opposition  to  the  Society 
increased.  The  hostility,  which  at  times  went  the  length 
of  breaking  Jesuit  windows,  is  ascribed  by  his  biographers 
chiefly  to  his  zeal  for  the  conversion  of  prostitutes.  He 
founded  a  large  home  for  these  women,  and  would  often 
follow  them  to  their  haunts  in  the  piazze  and  lead  them 
himself  to  St.  Martha's  House.  On  the  whole,  his  great 
philanthropic  services  and  personal  austerity  secured 
respect  for  his  Society  at  Rome,  and  it  prospered  there 
until  his  later  years. 

In  the  south  of  Italy  the  Society  met  little  opposition 
in  the  early  years.  Bobadilla  had  done  some  good  work 
in  troubled  Calabria  before  the  Society  was  founded, 
and  within  the  next  ten  years  colleges  were  opened 
at  Messina  (1548),  Palermo  (1549),  and  Naples  (1551). 
The  poet  Tasso  was  one  of  the  first  students  of  the 
Naples  college.  It  was  in  the  north  that  the  more 
arduous  work  had  to  be  done.  The  seeds  of  the 
Reformation  were  wafted  over  the  Alps  and  found  a 
fertile  soil  in  the  cities  of  the  Renaissance.  Hardly 
anywhere  else  were  monks  and  clergy  so  corrupt  and 
ignorant,  and  nowhere  was  there  so  much  familiarity  with 
the  immorality  of  the  Vatican  system.  Rome  itself  lived 
on  this  corruption  and  regarded  it  with  indulgence,  but 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS  41 

in  the  university  towns  of  the  north  educated  men,  and 
even  women,  who  almost  remembered  the  Hves  of 
Sixtus  IV.,  Innocent  viii.,  Alexander  vi.,  Julius  11.,  and 
Leo  X.,  were  but  provoked  to  smile  when  they  were 
exhorted  to  clino-  to  the  "  Vicar  of  Christ." 

To  tear  these  prosperous  seedlings  of  heresy  out  of 
the  soil  of  northern  Italy  was  the  congenial  task  of  the 
early  Jesuits,  and  Lainez,  Brouet,  and  Salmeron,  with 
some  of  the  new  recruits,  went  from  city  to  city,  chal-  1 
lenging  the  Protestants  to  debate,  strengthening  the  I 
Catholics  to  resist,  and  founding  colleges  for  the  sound 
education  of  youth.  Their  procedure,  and  the  resent- 
ment it  constantly  excited,  may  be  illustrated  by  their 
experience  at  Venice.  Lainez  was  sent  by  the  Pope  to 
Venice  in  1542,  at  the  request  of  the  Doge.  An  honour- 
able apartment  awaited  him  in  the  Doge's  Palace,  but  he 
humbly  declined  and  went  to  live  among  the  sick  at  the 
squalid  hospital,  varying  his  learned  campaign  against 
the  Lutherans  with  the  lowliest  services  to  the  poor  and 
ailing.  Many  were  edified,  especially  one  Andrea 
Lippomani,  an  elderly  and  wealthy  noble.  Presently 
there  came  an  instruction  from  Ignatius  that  Lainez 
must  accept  the  hospitality  offered  him  by  Lippomani  ; 
and  a  little  later  the  noble's  heirs  were  infuriated  to 
learn  that  he  had  assigned  a  rich  benefice  of  his  at  Padua 
to  the  Jesuits.  They  appealed  to  the  Venetian  Council, 
and  lost,  for  Lainez  and  Salmeron  were  ordered  by  the 
General  to  defend  the  donation.  So  the  first  college  of 
the  Society  was  founded,  at  Padua,  and  Lippomani  after- 
wards enabled  them  to  found  one  at  Venice.  Whatever 
view  one  takes  of  it,  this  was  the  normal  procedure  : 
tend  the  sick  and  beg  your  bread  until  "men  of  wealth 
and  position "  open  their  purses,  then  throw  all  your 
energy  into  the  founding  of  colleges  and  the  securing  of 
novices.    It  was  unquestionably  a  most  effective  method  of 


42  THE  JESUITS 

serving  the  Church  ;  it  also  had  an  aspect  which  attracted 
critics. 

In  the  CathoHc  atmosphere  of  Spain  and  Portugal  the 
Society  might  be  expected  to  grow  luxuriantly,  as  it 
eventually  did,  but  its  fortunes  in  the  Peninsula  are 
rather  due  to  the  General's  policy  of  securing  influential 
patrons  than  to  any  popular  welcome.  As  early  as  1540 
Ignatius  had  sent  his  nephew  Araoz  into  Spain,  and 
one  reads — between  the  lines — that  he  had  little  success. 
At  last  a  college  was  founded  at  Alcala,  to  the  anger  of 
many  of  the  University  professors.  One  professor 
mamtained  his  opposition  so  long  and  so  violently  that 
Father  Villanueva,  the  Jesuit  rector,  fraternally  informed 
him  that  the  Inquisition  proposed  to  put  him  a  few 
questions,  and  the  professor  sullenly  withdrew.  Then  a 
learned  ex-rector  of  the  university  itself  was  won  by 
Ignatius,  during  a  visit  to  Rome,  and  was  sent  back, 
a  Jesuit,  to  found  a  college  at  Salamanca.  It  was,  as 
usual,  founded  in  poverty  ;  the  fathers  had  not  even  a 
crucifix  to  put  over  their  altar,  and  one  of  their  number 
had  to  draw  the  figure  on  a  sheet  of  paper.  From  the 
general  laws  of  these  phenomena  one  might  deduce  that 
the  story  brought  a  shower  of  crucifixes.  However,  the 
favour  of  the  King  of  Portugal  and  the  influence  of 
Rome  smoothed  their  paths,  and  little  colonies  were  soon 
planted  at  Valladolid,  Toledo,  Saragossa,  and  other 
towns. 

It  was  in  Spain  that  the  Society  encountered  the 
most  virulent  of  its  early  Catholic  antagonists,  Melchior 
Cano.  He  was  a  very  learned  and  sober  Dominican 
monk,  and  a  professor  at  the  university  :  an  enemy  of 
mysticism  and  eccentricity.  He  knew  of  the  early 
penances  and  "visions"  of  Ignatius,  and  had  seen  him  at 
work  in  Rome.  When  the  pale,  black-robed,  mysterious 
youths  walked  demurely  into  learned  Salamanca  and  set 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS  43 

up  a  college  for  the  instruction  of  youth,  the  monk 
erupted.  They  were  hybrids — neither  the  flesh  of  the 
secular  clergy  nor  the  fish  of  the  regular  clergy  :  they 
were  leeches,  fastening  on  wealthy  saints  and  sinners  ; 
and  so  on,  Miguel  de  Torres,  the  rector,  called  upon 
the  irate  friar,  and  told  him  of  the  great  privileges  the 
Pope  had  bestowed  on  the  Society  and  the  high  missions 
he  had  entrusted  to  its  members.  This  inflamed  him 
still  more,  and  he  flung  at  them  Paul's  fiery  warnings 
against  the  hypocrites  who  would  come  after  him.  He 
exaggerated  heavily,  especially  in  regard  to  the  personal 
character  of  the  Jesuits,  but  he  saw  very  clearly  those 
dangerous  features  and  practices  of  the  early  Society 
which  I  have  indicated.  The  struggle  came  to  a 
diplomatic  close.  Melchior  Cano  was  appointed  Bishop 
of  the  Canaries,  and  the  Jesuits  invite  us  to  admire  the 
way  in  which  Ignatius  returned  good  for  evil.  It  may 
be  added  that  Cano  afterwards  recognised  the  ruse,  laid 
down  his  mitre,  and  returned  to  plague  his  benefactors. 

In  the  midst  of  this  conflict  the  Jesuits  made  a  most 
important  convert,  and  their  future  in  Spain  was  assured. 
Francis  Borgia,  Duke  of  Gandia,  one  of  the  leading 
nobles  of  the  kingdom,  met  and  was  enchanted  by  Favre 
in  1544,  when  the  King  of  Portugal  brought  that  gentle 
and  persuasive  Jesuit  on  a  visit  to  the  Spanish  court. 
He  was  conducted  through  the  Exercises  by  Favre,  one 
of  the  most  lovable  and  sincere  of  the  early  fathers. 
When  Favre  died  two  years  afterwards,  prematurely 
worn  by  his  labours,  Borgia  wrote  to  ask  Ignatius  to 
admit  him  to  the  order.  Observe  the  procedure  once 
more.  He  was  secretly  initiated,  not  even  the  Pope 
knowing  his  name  :  which  enabled  him  to  remain  in  the 
eyes  of  men  the  Duke  of  Gandia,  and  shower  his 
wealth  and  his  patronage  on  the  Society.  It  really 
matters  little  what  lofty  purposes  are  alleged  for  such 


v-^ 


44  THE  JESUITS 

sinuous  procedure  ;  it  was  a  new  policy  in  the  history  of 
religious  founders.  When,  a  few  years  later,  the  Pope 
offered  a  cardinal's  hat  to  the  Duke  of  Gandia,  and 
the  King  of  Spain  insisted  that  he  should  accept  it,  the 
truth  had  to  come  out.  Ignatius  had  sternly  enjoined 
that  no  dignity  should  ever  be  accepted  by  any  member 
of  his  Society,  yet,  to  avoid  giving  offence  to  the  king, 
he  said  that  he  left  the  decision  to  Borgia. 

Under  Borgia's  patronage  the  net  of  the  Society 
spread  over  Spain,  many  blessing  and  some  cursing. 
At  Saragossa,  where  they  had  built  a  chapel,  the 
Augustinian  friars  complained  that  it  encroached  on 
their  sphere.  To  prevent  unedifying  conduct  on  the 
part  of  rival  friars,  the  Church  had  decreed  that  no  order 
should  establish  itself  within  five  hundred  feet  of  a  house 
belonging  to  a  different  order.  When  the  Jesuits  who 
had  broken  this  law,  refused  to  yield,  they  were  excom- 
municated by  the  Vicar-General,  and  a  pleasant 
procession  was  arranged  by  the  townsfolk,  in  which 
effigies  of  damned  Jesuits  were  propelled  toward  their 
destination  by  little  devils.  The  Augustinians  were 
popular.  But  the  long  arm  of  Ignatius  was  extended 
once  more,  and  the  Papal  Nuncio  intervened  in  favour 
of  the  Jesuits.  Before  many  years  the  Jesuits  won  from 
the  Pope  a  declaration  that  the  law  did  not  apply  to 
them,  and  they  might  build  where  they  pleased.  They 
prospered,  and  were  hated. 

An  incident  of  the  same  siofnificance  occurred  at 
Alcala.  The  college  obtained  many  pupils,  though  little 
wealth,  and  the  Jesuit  fathers  began  to  be  very  active. 
In  1 55 1  they  were  surprised  to  hear  that  the  Archbishop 
of  Toledo  had  suspended  the  whole  of  them  from 
priestly  functions  for  daring  to  hear  confessions  without 
his  authorisation.  The  Jesuits  produced  their  privileges, 
and  persuaded  the  Governor  of  Toledo,  and  even  the 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS 

Royal  Council,  to  explain  to  the  prelate  that  the  Pope 
had  exempted  them  from  the  jurisdiction  of  bishops. 
He  refused  to  recognise  such  extraordinary  privileges, 
and  maintained  the  suspension.  Ignatius  then  laid  the 
matter  before  the  Pope,  and  the  Archbishop  was  directed 
from  Rome  to  withdraw  his  opposition. 

When  we  turn  to  Portugal  we  find  an  interesting- 
illustration  of  the  early  effect  of  great  prosperity  on  the 
Society.  On  the  throne  at  the  time  was  John  in.  from 
whose  reign  all  historians  date  the  downfall  of  what  had 
become  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  wealthy  Powers  in 
Europe.  Blind  to  the  gross  administrative  corruption  in 
his  kingdom,  and  to  the  decay  of  the  stirring  patriotism 
which  had  borne  the  Portuguese  flag  over  the  globe,  John 
was  concerned  only  about  the  religious  needs  of  his 
country  and  his  new  colonies.  He  had  invited  Xavier 
and  Rodriguez  in  1540,  intending  to  send  them  to  the 
Indies,  but  he  was  so  charmed  with  them  that  he  wished 
to  keep  them  in  Portugal.  Ignatius  allowed  Rodriguez 
to  remain,  and  Xavier  set  out  on  his  historic  mission  to 
the  far  east.  In  this  Ignatius  showed  his  usual  discern- 
ment :  Rodriguez  proved  as  supple  and  graceful  a 
courtier  as  Xavier  proved  a  fiery  missionary.  John 
then  wished  to  entrust  the  tutorship  of  his  son  to 
Rodriguez,  and  Ignatius  consented.  His  own  followers 
were  puzzled  at  times  to  know  which  ivere  the  dignities 
that  they  were  forbidden  to  accept.  When  John  asked 
for  a  Jesuit  confessor,  Rodriguez  refused,  but  Ignatius 
overruled  him.  The  next  step  was  to  setup  the  Inquisi- 
tion, through  the  mediation  of  Ignatius,  and  Orlandini 
admits  that  when,  in  1555,  the  king  wished  to  make 
Father  Merin,  his  confessor,  head  of  the  Inquisition, 
Ignatius  seriously  considered  the  proposal.  He  did  not 
refuse,  as  is  sometimes  said  ;  the  negotiations  broke 
down. 


/ 


46  THE  JESUITS 

In  this  genial  atmosphere  the  Society  flourished. 
Its  chief  college  was  at  Coimbra,  the  great  university 
centre,  where  the  Jesuits  rapidly  ran  their  course.  At 
first  they  shocked  staid  Catholics  with  the  excesses  of 
their  zeal.  A  youth  in  the  college  confessed  to  tempta- 
tions of  the  flesh,  and  was  ordered  to  walk  the  streets  at 
mid-day  without  a  hat  or  a  cloak,  holding  a  skull  in  his 
hand.  Another  student  went  forth  almost  naked  in  a 
cold  wind,  begging  from  door  to  door ;  and,  finding  a 
crowd  of  folk  dancing  and  singing  in  a  church,  he 
mounted  the  pulpit  to  admonish  them,  and  was  dragged 
out  and  severely  chastised.  At  nights  Father  Simon 
would  send  out  a  procession  of  youths  to  cry  in  [the  ears 
of  indignant  sinners  or  quiet  wine-bibbers  some  such 
doggerel  as  :  "  Hell,  hell,  hell,  for  those  in  grave  sin  "  ; 
or  long  processions  of  children  with  masks  and  lanterns 
paraded  the  streets  and  squares.  We  gather  that  the 
boys  of  Coimbra  had  a  pleasant  time  during  these  exhibi- 
tions. But  the  college  flourished ;  there  were  in  a  few 
years  a  hundred  and  fifty  pupils  in  it,  and  it  supplied 
large  numbers  of  missionaries. 

In  1546  Favre  visited  Coimbra,  and  reported  to 
Ignatius  that  prosperity  had  flushed  the  veins  of  his 
brothers.  Nicolini  and  other  anti-Jesuit  writers  speak 
of  the  college  as  having  become  a  place  of  "  debauch," 
but  this  is  not  stated  in  the  chronicles.  Frivolity  and 
good-living  are  the  only  vices  charged,  whatever  we 
may  suspect.  The  students  stooped  to  writing  sonnets, 
and  the  King's  money  provided  plenty  of  good  cheer. 
Ignatius  felt  that  Father  Simon  had  lost  his  fervour  at 
the  court,  deposed  him  from  office — he  was  Provincial 
(or  head  of  the  province) — and  ordered  him  to  go  either 
to  Brazil  or  Aragon.  The  piety  of  Rodriguez  had 
evidently  deteriorated,  and  he  made  a  struggle  to  hold 
his  place.     He  was  a  handsome  and  comfortable   man, 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS  47 

much  liked  for  his  liberality.  He  went  to  Coimbra, 
where  Ignatius  had  appointed  a  new  rector,  and  the 
liberals  tried  to  induce  the  court  to  protect  them.  The 
King  was  alarmed,  however,  and  Father  Simon  had  to 
submit,  and  the  college  to  mend  its  ways.  Numbers  of 
students  left  or  were  expelled,  and  for  the  rest,  when  the 
new  rector  piously  walked  the  streets  of  Coimbra,  laying 
the  bloody  lash  on  his  own  bare  shoulders,  they  fell  to 
tears  and  went  out  in  a  body  scourging  themselves 
under  the  eyes  of  the  townsfolk.  The  story  ends 
in  Orlandini  with  Simon  Rodriguez  submitting  in  holy 
joy  and  kissing  the  rebuking  letters  of  his  General. 
But  when  we  turn  to  Sacchini,  the  Jesuit  writes  of  the 
next  section  of  the  "  Historia  Societatis  Jesu,"  who 
does  not  always  carefully  notice  what  his  predecessor 
has  said,  we  learn  that  Rodriguez  smarted  for  years 
under  the  humiliation,  and  awaited  an  opportunity  to 
undo  it.  However,  the  province  returned  to  piety, 
and  before  the  death  of  Ignatius  we  find  the  Jesuits 
capturing,  after  a  long  siege,  the  famous  University  of 
Coimbra. 

In  France  the  Society  wholly  failed  under  Ignatius. 
He  placed  students,  supported  by  wealthy  patrons,  at 
the  University  of  Paris,  and  sent  fathers  after  a  time  to 
gather  their  neophytes  under  one  roof.  Then  the 
outbreak  of  war  with  Spain  drove  most  of  them  abroad, 
and  even  when  the  war  was  over  the  colony  made  slow 
progress,  amid  poverty  and  hostility.  In  1549  Ignatius 
won  the  favour  of  Cardinal  Guise  de  Lorraine  and, 
through  him,  of  the  French  court.  The  King  issued 
letters  authorising  the  Jesuits  to  live  and  teach  at  Paris, 
and  Brouet  was  sent  to  conciliate  the  Parisians.  Then 
began  a  long  and  famous  struggle  between  the  Parle- 
ment  and  University  of  Paris  and  the  court  and  Jesuits. 
Parlement  bluntly  refused  to  register  the  King's  letters, 


48  THE  JESUITS 

and  they  .were  of  no  effect  until  this  powerful  legal  body 
had  accepted  them.  Henry  ordered  his  Privy  Council 
to  examine  the  Jesuit  Constitutions  and  approve  them  ; 
Parlement  retorted  by  inviting  the  Archbishop,  who  was 
very  hostile,  and  the  theological  faculty  of  the  university 
to  advise  it,  and  the  issue  was  a  violent  condemnation  of 
the  Jesuits  in  the  vein  of  Melchior  Cano.  It  was  said 
that  they  admitted  all  sorts  of  aspirants  to  their  ranks, 
and  that  the  extraordinary  privileges  they  professed 
to  have  were  insulting  to  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
authorities  and  opposed  to  the  interests  of  the  other 
orders  and  the  university. 

In  the  main,  it  was  undoubtedly  the  privileges  of  the 
Jesuits  which  made  the  greater  part  of  Paris  and  of 
France  hostile  to  them.  Bishops  were  not  to  look  at 
them,  civic  authorities  were  not  to  tax  them,  universities 
were  to  be  opposed  by  free  classes,  and  were  to  respect 
degrees  granted  by  Jesuits  to  any  whom  they  thought 
fit.  The  hostility  was  quite  natural,  and  it  was  fed  by 
indiscretions  on  the  part  of  the  Jesuits.  They  received 
a  nephew  of  the  Archbishop,  against  the  uncle's  will, 
and  they  first  turned  the  brain  (with  their  Exercises) 
of,  and  then  put  out  of  doors,  a  very  learned  ornament 
of  the  university  named  Postel.  The  Archbishop  bade 
them  leave  Paris,  and  they  remained  helpless  outside 
the  city,  at  St.  Germain  aux  Pr^s,  until  after  the  death 
of  Ignatius.  He  pressed  the  case  at  Rome,  and  doctors 
of  the  Sorbourne  went  there  to  exchanore  arguments 
with  Jesuit  doctors,  but  nothing  was  done  until  years 
afterwards. 

During  the  war  the  Spanish  Jesuits  had  gone  from 
Paris  to  Louvain  and  began  to  teach  there.  Here 
again  the  university  scorned  and  opposed  them,  and  for 
many  years  (until  they  secured  the  interest  of  the 
Archduchess)   they   made    no    progress.     Ribadeneira, 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS  49 

who  was  in  charge,  used  to  break  down  and  retire  from 
the  room  to  weep.  In  Germany  they  had  a  different 
and  more  spirited  struggle,  but  they  seem  to  have  had 
httle  influence  in  the  various  conferences  and  diets  at 
which  attempts  were  still  made  to  reconcile  the  parties. 
Favre  was  at  the  Diet  of  Worms  in  1540,  then  at  the 
Ratisbon  Conference,  where  Bobadilla  and  Le  Jay 
succeeded  him.  They  were  restricted  to  an  effort  to 
reform  the  Catholics  themselves,  and  found  it  difficult. 
The  letters  of  these  early  Jesuits  make  it  quite  im-  , 
possible  for  any  historian  to  question  the  appalling 
corruption  of  priests,  monks,  and  people  in  every  part  of 
Europe  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation.  From  Worms  „ 
Favre  wrote  to  Ignatius  that  there  were  not  three  priests 
in  the  city  who  were  not  stained  by  concubinage 
or  crime.  At  Ratisbon  the  Catholics  threatened  to 
throw  Le  Jay  into  the  river.  "What  does  it  matter 
to  me  whether  I  enter  heaven  by  water  or  land  ? " 
he  said.  They  knew  very  little  German,  generally 
preaching  in  Latin,  and  had  slight  influence  for  some 
years. 

In  time,  as  they  learned  German,  and  confined  them- 
selves to  the  Catholic  provinces,  their  work  was  more 
successful.  They  fastened  especially  on  Cologne,  and 
assailed  the  Archbishop,  a  very  worldly  prelate  of  the 
old  type,  who  was  annoyed  to  find  these  Jesuit  wasps 
buzzing  about  him,  and  their  house  was  closed  for  a 
time  by  the  authorities.  But  they  had  the  favour  of  the 
Emperor,  and  the  Archbishop  was  deposed.  In  1545 
the  Council  of  Trent  opened,  and  Lainez  and  Salmeron 
appeared  there  as  the  Pope's  theologians,  together 
with  Peter  Canisius  (an  able  German  student  whom 
Favre  had  attracted  to  the  Society)  as  theologian 
of  the  new  Archbishop  of  Cologne.  It  need  only 
be  said  of  the  earlier  sittings  of  the  famous  Council 
4 


50  THE  JESUITS 

(in  1545  and  1551)  that  the  Jesuits  had  little  influence, 
and  this  they  used  to  oppose  any  concession  to  the 
Protestants  and  magnify  the  authority  of  the  Pope. 
This  will  be  plainer  in  connection  with  the  later 
sittings. 

The  work  in  Germany  was  afterwards  thwarted  by 
the  zeal  of  the  fiery  Bobadilla.  It  had  at  last  come  to 
war  with  the  Protestants,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  Bobadilla  marched  with  the  troops  and  was 
severely  wounded  at  Miihlberg.  In  1548,  however, 
Charles  published  his  Interim,  or  provisional  concession 
of  certain  Protestant  claims  (such  as  the  marriage 
of  the  clergy)  until  the  Council  of  the  Church  should 
decide  the  points  at  issue.  It  may  be  recalled  that  the 
o-eneral  Council  of  Trent  was  first  intended  as  a  common 
meeting  of  Protestant  and  Catholic  divines,  and  the 
hope  of  reconciliation  was  not  yet  dead.  Reconciliation, 
however,  could  mean  only  concession,  and  the  Jesuits 
were  resolutely  against  concession.  Whatever  influence 
they  had  in  Germany,  apart  from  their  effort  to  reform 
the  morality  of  the  Catholics,  was  reactionary  and 
mischievous  in  the  highest  degree  Bobadilla  over- 
flowed with  wrath  at  the  Interwi,  and  denounced  it 
fiercely  by  pen  and  tongue.  Charles  angrily  ordered 
him  to  leave  the  Empire,  and  he  returned  to  Rome  ; 
and  it  is  recorded  that  Ignatius  so  warmly  resented  his 
"indiscretion"  that  he  refused  at  first  to  admit  him  to 
the  house.  Thus  did  the  saint  vindicate  the  majesty  of 
kings,  says  M.  Cretineau-Joly.  The  outbreak  did 
unquestionably  hamper  the  progress  of  the  Jesuits  for 
a  time,  but  before  the  death  of  Ignatius  they  were 
firmly  established  in  Vienna,  Prague,  Cologne,  and  a 
few  other  cities.  At  Vienna  the  court  demanded  that 
Canisius  should  accept  the  office  of  archbishop,  and 
Ignatius  compromised  by  allowing  him  to  administer  the 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS 


€y 


see  and  refuse  its  revenue.  In  the  same  year  a  Jesuit 
was  made  "  Patriarch  of  Abyssinia."  It  was  just  seven 
years  since  Ignatius  had  induced  the  Pope  to  decree 
that  no  Jesuit  should  ever  accept  an  ecclesiastical 
dignity. 

Of  the  foreign  missions  it  is  impossible  to  speak  here 
at  any  length.  In  1540  Francis  Xavier  had  come  for 
his  leader's  blessing  as  he  started  for  the  Indies.  His 
cassock  was  worn  and  patched,  and  Ignatius  took  off  his 
own  flannel  vest  and  put  it  on  the  young  priest  before 
dismissing  him  with  the  usual :  "Go  and  set  the  world 
on  fire."  It  was  a  different  Xavier  from  the  one  he  had 
seen,  a  vain  and  brilliant  teacher,  at  the  University  of 
Paris,  and  it  is  well  known  how  he  did  set  the  world  on 
fire.  He  was  a  handsome,  blue-eyed  man  of  thirty-six, 
and  no  Portuguese  sailor  ever  fronted  the  unknown  with 
more  courage  and  heroism  than  Xavier  displayed  in  his 
famous  travels  from  India  to  Japan.  After  a  year's 
work  at  Goa,  where  his  first  need  was  to  convert  the 
Christians  and  the  Portuguese  priests,  he  went  on  to 
Malabar,  to  the  Moluccas,  to  Malacca,  and  on  to  Japan, 
ending  his  life,  in  1552,  in  an  attempt  to  reach  China. 
What  the  result  of  his  mission  was  it  is  difficult  to 
estimate  soberly.  The  Jesuit  chronicler  forgets  the  con- 
fusion of  tongues,  and  makes  Xavier  leap  from  land 
to  land,  preaching  to  and  converting  thousands  every- 
where, as  if  they  all  spoke  Portuguese.  In  Japan 
he  clearly  failed,  although  the  Portuguese  merchants 
were  greatly  anxious  for  success,  and  the  Japanese,  of 
their  own  high  character  and  out  of  respect  for  the 
great  king  (of  Portugal),  his  friend,  were  extremely 
polite. 

The  other  foreign  missions  of  the  early  Jesuits  were 
less  irradiated  with  miracle,  or  with  heroism.  Lainez 
went  in  the  wake  of  the  Spanish  troops  to  Tunis,  said 


52  THE  JESUITS 

mass  there,  and  left  no  trace  behind.  Nunez,  the 
"  Patriarch  of  Abyssinia,"  went  out  with  two  others  to 
take  over  his  diocese,  but  found  a  "Patriarch"  there 
already,  who  made  a  lively  opposition,  and  the  Jesuits 
had  to  retire  to  Goa.  Four  Jesuits  were  sent  to  the 
Congo.  Two  died  at  once,  and  the  other  two  became 
so  interested  in  commerce  that  the  king  was  alarmed. 
Ignatius  recalled  and  replaced  them,  but  the  king 
expelled  the  newcomers.  In  Brazil  they  made  more 
progress,  penetrating  the  forests  and  winning  the  favour 
of  the  natives  by  their  medical  and  other  material  aid. 
They  tried  to  save  the  intended  dinners  of  the  cannibals, 
and,  when  they  failed,  sprinkled  the  poor  men  with  holy 
water  ;  but  the  cannibals  found  that  it  made  them  less 
succulent  and  forbade  the  practice.  They  did  useful 
work  in  Brazil,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  a  great 
mission. 

Such  were  the  labours  of  the  first  Jesuits  during  the 
generalship  of  Ignatius,  and  it  remains  only  to  close  the 
career  of  their  able  leader.  The  varied  story  of  success 
and  failure,  the  showers  of  glowing  testimonials  and 
bitter  diatribes,  the  heroism  of  some  and  the  frailty  of 
others,  kept  him  alternately  elated  or  depressed  to  the 
end.  He  must  have  seen  that  the  first  fervour  could 
not  be  maintained,  and  that  opposition  became  more 
serious  as  the  Society  grew.  It  had  now  nearly  a 
thousand  members  scattered  over  the  world,  and  a 
hundred  houses  and  colleges.  The  figures  are  mis- 
leading, however,  as  there  were  only  thirty-five  pro- 
fessed fathers  and  only  two  professed  houses ;  many  of 
the  so-called  colleges  had  no  pupils  and  were  little 
more  than  names.  Ignatius  had  twice  attempted  to 
resign  his  office  in  the  last  few  years ;  and  there  was 
much  to  distress  him.  He  had  hardly  composed  the 
trouble  in  Portugal,  in    1552,   when    Lainez   gave    him 


THE  FIRST  JESUITS  53 

anxiety.  Lainez,  who  was  made  Provincial  of  Italy 
when  Brouet  was  sent  to  Paris,  complained  that  the 
general  was  robbing  his  colleges  of  their  best  teachers 
for  the  sake  of  Rome.  Ignatius  dictated  to  his  secre- 
tary an  angry  letter.  "  He  bids  me  tell  you,"  says 
the  scribe,  "  to  attend  to  your  own  charge  .  .  .  and 
you  need  not  give  him  advice  about  this  until  he 
asks  it." 

In  the  next  year  (1553)  he  had  a  grave  quarrel  with 
Cardinal  Caraffa.  The  Jesuits  of  Sicily  had  admitted  a 
youth  against  his  parents'  wishes,  and  Caraffa,  to  whom 
the  mother  appealed,  ordered  Ignatius  to  give  up  the 
youth.  He  appealed  to  the  Pope,  and  got  Caraffa's 
verdict  cancelled.  When,  two  years  afterwards,  Caraffa 
became  Pope  Paul  iv,,  Ignatius  remembered  his  moment- 
ary triumph  with  concern,  and  there  were  grave  faces  in 
the  Jesuit  house.  Paul  iii.  had  died  in  1549.  His 
successor  Julius  in.  had  been,  as  the  previous  record 
shows,  very  generous  to  the  Jesuits,  though  funds  had 
fallen  very  low  in  Rome,  owing  to  the  Reformation, 
and  Ignatius  had  great  work  to  keep  alive  the 
German  college  he  had  founded.  Julius  died  in 
1555,  and  it  is  said  by  the  Jesuit  writers  that  five 
cardinals  voted  for  Ignatius  himself  at  the  next  con- 
clave. Marcellus,  the  next  Pope,  lived  less  than  a 
month,  and  then  Caraffa  occupied  the  see.  To  Caraffa 
the  Spaniards  were  "barbarians,"  and  the  Jesuits  were 
Spaniards.  But  he  postponed  the  struggle  which  he 
was  to  have  with  the  Society,  and  received  Ignatius 
courteously. 

Work,  austerity,  and  anxiety  had  at  length  seriously 
impaired  the  strong  frame  of  Ignatius,  and  he  began  to 
prepare  for  the  end.  It  is  marvellous  how  he  lived  to 
see  his  sixty-fifth  year,  and  continued  to  control  the 
mighty    struggle    of    his    Society    against    its    various 


54  THE  JESUITS 

enemies.  With  the  opening  of  1556,  however,  he 
retired  to  a  great  extent  from  the  labours  of  his  office, 
and  spent  his  days  chiefly  in  prayer.  He  died  in  the 
early  morning  of  31st  July  1556,  and  the  struggle  for 
the  succession  beean. 


CHAPTER   III 
EARLY  STORMS 

For  the  events  of  the  next  ten  years,  which  will  be 
narrated  in  this  chapter,  we  still  rely  almost  entirely  on 
Jesuit  writers.  The  statement  may  sound  like  an 
insinuation  of  dishonesty,  but  it  is  merely  a  reminder 
that  our  authorities  are  panegyrists  rather  than 
historians.  Their  purpose  was  wholly  different  from 
that  of  the  modern  historian,  and  their  selection  and 
treatment  of  documents  correspondingly  differed.  It 
would  be  ingenuous  to  imagine  that  they  loaded  the 
scales  of  good  and  evil,  success  and  failure,  with  im- 
partial hand.  Here  and  there,  however,  some  scandal 
was  so  widely  known  in  their  day,  and  so  eagerly  pressed 
by  their  opponents,  that  it  were  wiser  to  put  a  bold  gloss 
upon  it  than  to  ignore  it,  and  thus  we  of  the  later  date 
can  just  discern  the  human  form  under  the  thick  veil  of 
panegyric.  It  becomes  more  and  more  apparent  after 
the  death  of  Ignatius.  Father  Sacchini,  who  takes  up 
the  pen  laid  down  by  Orlandini,  is  just  as  loyal  to  his 
order,  but  it  becomes  more  frequently  necessary  to 
excuse  and  explain,  and  at  times  he  candidly  censures. 
The  Society  is  shaken  by  "very  fierce  storms,"  and  one 
of  these  breaks  upon  it  in  his  earliest  pages. 

The  Constitutions  provided  that  at  the  death  of  a 
General  there  should  be  a  Vicar-General  appointed,  and 
he  should  proceed  to  summon  the  leading  fathers  of 
every    province    for   the    election,      Now,    Ignatius  had 

55 


56  THE  JESUITS 

appointed  a  Vicar  to  assist  him  in  his  last  years,  and  it 
was  generally  felt  that  this  Father  Natalis  would  be 
Vicar-General  and  control  the  election.  Natalis  was  in 
Spain,  however,  and  Lainez,  although  very  ill,  was  in 
Rome.  We  remember  Lainez  as  the  learned  and 
masterful  Castilian  who  had  once  provoked  Ignatius  to 
use  very  plain  speech.  There  were  only  five  fathers  at 
Rome,  including  Lainez,  who  were  entitled  to  vote  for 
the  Vicar-General,  and  Lainez  helped  to  simplify  the 
issue  by  casting  a  blank  vote,  like  Ignatius,  or  "leaving 
the  matter  to  God."  He  was  appointed,  and  he  fixed 
the  more  important  election  for  November.  For  this  he 
had  to  summon  the  Provincials,  Assistants,  and  two 
Prefects  from  each  of  the  twelve  provinces  of  the  Society. 
One  imagines  a  large  and  varied  body,  but  in  point  of 
fact  there  were  only  about  twenty  voters ;  those  in 
Brazil  and  the  Indies  could  not  be  expected,  while  the 
"province  of  Ethiopia"  (or  Abyssinia)  existed  only  on 
paper.  It  happened,  moreover,  that  as  the  Pope  was  at 
war  with  Spain,  the  Spanish  fathers  could  not  come, 
and  Lainez  dare  not  proceed  without  them.  They 
were  of  opinion  that  Natalis  ought  to  have  been 
recognised  as  Vicar- General. 

Thus  the  election  had  to  be  postponed  for  two  years, 
and  Lainez  continued,  on  the  strength  of  four  votes,  to 
act  as  General.  The  remarkable  events  of  those  two 
years  are  of  great  importance  in  studying  the  character 
of  the  early  Society.  Two  very  serious  conflicts  arose, 
one  between  the  Jesuits  themselves,  and  one  with  the 
Pope,  and  it  is  in  such  conflicts  that  the  real  character 
appears.  Cretineau-Joly  suppresses  the  one  altogether 
and  grossly  mis-states  the  other ;  he  is  not  only  less 
candid,  but  far  less  truthful,  even  than  the  original 
Jesuit  authorities.  If  we  wish  to  form  a  just  estimate 
of  the   early  Jesuits,  not    merely  to   admire  the    many 


EARLY  STORMS  57 

virtues  they  possessed,  we  must  consider  these  conflicts 
with  care,  as  they  are  recorded  by  Sacchini  in  the 
"  Historia  Societatis." 

Lainez  at  once  presented  himself,  as  temporary 
head  of  the  Society,  to  the  Pope,  and  prepared  for  a 
struggle.  Ranke's  fine  picture  of  Caraffa,  who  had 
now  become  Paul  iv.,  will  be  remembered.  A  dark  and 
stormy  Neapolitan,  an  ardent  Italian  patriot,  he  would, 
as  he  sat  over  his  fiery  southern  wine,  express  the 
fiercest  disdain  of  the  Spaniards,  and  trust  to  see  them 
swept  out  of  the  Italian  peninsula.  He  had  disliked 
Ignatius  and,  Sacchini  says,  spoken  slightingly  of  him 
after  his  death.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  a  deeply 
religious  man  and  sincere  reformer,  and  he  recognised 
that  there  was  precious  stuff,  from  the  Church's  point 
of  view,  in  this  new  Society.  Should  he  fuse  it  with 
the  Theatines,  or  merely  clip  its  outrageous  privileges, 
and  bring  it  nearer  the  common  level  of  the  religious 
orders  ?  He  was  known  to  hesitate  between  the  two 
policies,  and  Lainez  was  determined  to  resist  both, 
implacably,  and  teach  the  papacy  the  real  value  of  the 
famous  fourth  vow.  And  Lainez  was  a  cold,  resolute, 
clear-headed  man  of  forty-five  :  Caraffa  a  nervous  and 
impetuous  old  man  of  eighty.  The  conflict  was 
postponed,  however,  until  the  Society  had  a  properly 
constituted  authority.  Paul  was  content  to  warn 
Lainez  that  the  Jesuits  must  be  careful  of  their  ways, 
and  to  remind  him  that  what  a  Pope  had  given  a  Pope 
might  take  away. 

A  few  months  later  the  domestic  conflict  opened. 
The  spirited  Bobadilla  protested  that  Diego  Lainez  had 
usurped  authority  over  the  Society  ;  the  proper  thing 
to  do  in  these  unforeseen  circumstances  was  to  divide 
the  leadership  between  the  five  survivors  of  the  ten 
original    Jesuits.      Rodriguez,  who    still    smarted    under 


58  THE  JESUITS 

his  humiliation,  Sacchini  says,  was  persuaded  to  take 
this  view;  Cogordan  a  "stiff-necked"  brother  whom 
Lainez  had  ventured  to  correct,  joined  them  ;  and  even 
the  meek  and  gentle  Brouet  was  drawn  into  the  revolt. 
For  many  months  the  austere  silence  of  the  Roman 
house  was  enlivened  with  the  singular  quarrel.  The 
rebels  wrote  lengthy  indictments  of  Lainez  and  secretly 
circulated  them  among  the  brethren ;  and  somehow, 
says  the  historian,  copies  of  their  libelli  always  reached 
the  hands  of  Lainez,  while  he  himself  wrote  nothing. 
Then  Cogordan  told  two  cardinals,  who  were  to  tell  the 
Pope,  that  Lainez  proposed  to  hold  the  election  in 
Spain,  so  that  they  might  pass  their  Constitutions 
without  the  Pope's  interference.  The  idea  was  certainly 
entertained,  and  we  can  easily  believe  that  Lainez 
favoured  it.  Paul  angrily  ordered  that  no  Jesuit  was 
to  quit  Rome,  and  closed  his  door  against  Lainez.  A 
union  of  this  powerful  and  casuistic  body  with  the  King 
of  Spain  was  one  of  the  last  things  Paul  wished  to  see  ; 
and  he  looked  forward  to  the  passing  of  their  Constitu- 
tions as  his  opportunity  to  clip  their  wings.  At  last 
Lainez  severed  Rodriguez  and  Brouet  from  the  rebels, 
and  Bobadilla  made  a  direct  application  to  the  Pope 
for  his  share  in  the  administration  of  the  Society.  To 
the  scandal  or  the  entertainment  of  Rome,  Cardinal 
Carpi  was  appointed  to  arbitrate  on  the  domestic 
quarrels  of  the  children  of  St.  Ignatius.  His  decision 
— that  Lainez  should  remain  Vicar-General,  but  consult 
the  older  fathers — did  not  put  an  end  to  the  unseemly 
quarrelling,  and  Lainez  in  turn  appealed  to  the  Pope, 
secured  the  appointment  of  another  cardinal,  and 
silenced  the  rebels.  We  can  imagine  the  feelingfs  of 
Paul  IV.  When  a  cardinal  told  him  that  Lainez  had 
charged  Bobadilla  with  an  honourable  mission  at 
Foligno,   and  had  sentenced   the  wicked    Cogordan    to 


EARLY  STORMS  59 

say  one  Pater  and  Ave,  he  crossed  himself:  as  a 
NeapoHtan  does  when  the  spirit  of  evil  is  about.  He 
was  astonished  at  the  obstinacy  of  the  rebels,  says 
Sacchini ;  but  there  are  those  who  fancy  that  what 
really  impressed  him  was  the  astuteness  of  Lainez.  He 
was  to  have  more  painful  experience  of  it  anon. 

While  the  leaders  quarrelled  for  the  mantle  of  the 
master  at  Rome,  there  was  grave  trouble  in  the 
provinces.  In  that  year  (1557)  John  iii.  died  in 
Portugal,  many  valuable  workers  were  lost,  and  the 
judgment  of  the  University  of  Paris  and  the  scalding 
indictments  of  Melchior  Cano  were  translated  into 
every  tongue  in  Europe.  There  was  no  possibility 
under  Paul  iv.  of  countering  these  things  by  conversa- 
tion at  the  Vatican,  It  was  imperative  to  hold  the 
election  as  soon  as  possible  and  return  to  the  field. 
The  end  of  the  war  came  in  1558,  and  by  May  the 
twenty  voters  were  assembled  in  the  Roman  house. 
They  were  to  elect  a  general  and  endorse  the 
Constitutions,   now  completed  by  Lainez. 

There  was  friction  at  first  because  Lainez  issued  to 
the  fathers  certain  orders  which  aimed  at  preventing 
canvassing,  but  in  July  they  proceeded  to  the  election. 
To  their  dismay  Cardinal  Pacheco  entered  the  room, 
on  the  election  day,  and  said  that  the  Pope  had  sent 
him  to  preside.  He  genially  assured  them,  however, 
that  he  would  not  interfere,  and  they  cast  their  votes. 
Lainez  was  elected  by  thirteen  votes  out  of  twenty. 
They  then  held  a  number  of  sittings  on  the  Con- 
stitutions, and  prepared  for  a  struggle  with  the  Pope. 
This  struggle  is  not  without  some  humour  when  we 
reflect  that  the  Society  of  Jesus  was,  so  to  say,  the  Pope's 
private  regiment,  the  one  order  that  made  a  special  vow 
of  obedience  to  him,  the  most  exaggerated  champion 
in    Christendom    of    his   authority.      It    was    the    first 


6o  THE  JESUITS 

occasion  on  which  the  Vatican  was  to  realise  that 
it  might  count  on  the  abject  obedience  of  the  Jesuits 
as  long  as  the  Jesuits  dictated  its  decrees,  Lainez 
and  his  colleagues  were  determined  by  every  means 
in  their  power  to  thwart  the  will  of  Paul  iv.  and  suffer 
no  interference  with  their  own  will.  They  quietly 
endorsed  their  Constitutions,  and  prepared  to  go  to 
their  provinces.  It  is  impossible  to  find  what  precise 
order  the  Pope  had  given  them  to  alter  their  Con- 
stitutions, but  he  had  certainly  done  so  in  some  form, 
and  his  anger  broke  out  stormily.  He  sent  a  cardinal 
to  say  that  they  must  reconsider  the  question  of 
chanting  in  choir,  as  other  religious  bodies  did,  and  of 
appointing  a  general  only  for  a  term  of  three  years. 

The  Jesuits  were  "surprised,"  but  obedient.  They 
"reconsidered"  the  points,  and  drew  up  a  report  to  the 
effect  that  they  were  unanimously  opposed  to  change. 
Lainez  and  Salmeron  were  directed  to  wait  on  the  Pope 
and  present  this  report,  and  some  brave  language — 
such  language  as  a  Pope  rarely  heard,  and  must  have 
been  amazed  to  hear  from  a  Jesuit,  if  it  were  really 
spoken — is  put  into  the  mouth  of  Lainez  at  the  audience 
by  Sacchini.  The  historian  admits,  however,  that 
they  did  not  present  the  report,  Paul  sternly  told 
them  that  they  were  "contumacious,"  indeed  not  far 
removed  from  heresy  (which  was  true),  and  he  cut 
short  their  defence  with  a  peremptory  command  to  do 
as  they  were  bidden.  With  an  eye  on  the  gray  hairs 
of  the  octogenarian  Pope  they  retired  to  mend  their 
rules  and  order  the  chanting  of  the  office.  It  now 
appeared  that  of  their  hundred  establishments  only  two 
were  "houses,"  and  they  contented  themselves  with 
ordering  that  vespers  should  be  chanted  in  these  houses — 
until  Paul  iv.  died.  They  had 'secretly  asked  the  opinion 
of  a  learned  cardinal  on  the  value  of  the  Pope's  command. 


EARLY  STORMS  6i 

Cardinal  Puteo  was  not  merely  an  expert  on  such 
matters  ;  he  was  Dean  of  the  Rota,  and  in  a  position  to 
dissolve  the  Pope's  order,  as  he  eventually  did.  He 
told  them  that  it  was  a  "  simple  command,"  and  that, 
as  the  decree  of  his  predecessor,  excusing  them  from 
choir,  was  not  expressly  abrogated,  it  would  come  into 
force  aofain  at  the  death  of  Paul  iv.  With  this  assurance 
they  meekly  submitted  to  the  Pope,  and  scattered  to 
their  respective  missions. 

I  have  narrated  this  curious  story  at  some  length, 
relying  entirely  on  the  Jesuit  Sacchini,  because  it  is  of 
extreme  significance  for  one  who  would  judge  the  char- 
acter and  history  of  the  Society.  Catholic  historians, 
who  suppress  it  entirely  or  give  a  very  misleading 
version  of  it,  are  clearly  of  opinion  that  the  mere  record 
of  the  facts  will  disturb  their  readers,  while  anti-Catholic 
writers  enlarge  on  it  with  pleasure.  Those  who  desire 
to  have  an  intelligent  and  just  estimate  of  the  Jesuits  can 
neither  ignore  nor  misinterpret  such  facts.  That  Lainez 
was  personally  ambitious,  that  his  eagerness  for  power 
had  not  entirely  the  unselfish  character  of  such  ambition 
as  we  may  recognise  in  Ignatius,  can  hardly  be  doubted. 
But  Brouet  and  Salmeron  shared  and  supported  his 
conduct,  and  in  those  two,  at  least,  one  is  disposed  to 
see  the  first  spirit  of  the  Regiment  of  Jesus  in  its 
original  purity.  The  clue  to  the  seeming  inconsistency 
or  hypocrisy  of  such  men  defying  or  evading  the  Pope's 
commands  I  have  already  indicated.  The  Society  of 
Jesus  had  consecrated  diplomacy  to  the  service  of  God. 
If  a  Pope  would  strip  their  order  of  those  distinctions 
and  privileges  which,  in  their  conviction,  peculiarly  fitted 
it  to  carry  on  the  holy  war,  he  was  not  acting  as  the  Vicar 
of  Christ,  and  his  commands  must  be  evaded.  It  did  not 
occur  to  them  that  this  was,  in  the  end,  the  Protestant 
principle    of     private    judgment,    against    which    they 


62  THE  JESUITS 

thundered  the  doctrine  of  papal  authority.  They 
were  the  children  of  Ignatius,  who  had  always  felt 
that  his  private  judgment  was  the  judgment  of 
God.  So  Jesuitism  moved  slowly  toward  its  inevitable 
goal. 

One  other  incident  at  Rome  may  be  recorded  before 
we  distribute  the  events  of  the  next  seven  years  in  their 
national  departments,  A  little  more  than  a  year  after 
the  election,  on  i8th  August  1559,  Paul  iv.  died.  How 
the  Romans,  stung  by  the  misery  they  had  suffered 
during  his  war  with  Spain  and  the  brutalities  of  his 
Inquisition,  burst  into  the  streets  with  wild  re- 
joicing, and  attacked  the  palace  of  the  Inquisitors,  and 
how  the  new  Pope  surrendered  the  criminal  nephews  of 
his  predecessor,  including  a  cardinal  of  the  Church,  to 
the  scaffold,  must  be  read  in  general  history.  The  fact 
that  the  Jesuits  were  called  to  sustain  Cardinal  Caraffa 
in  his  last  hours  is  of  no  significance.  It  is  more 
pertinent  to  tell  that  Lainez  returned  to  the  learned 
Cardinal  Puteo,  and  the  odious  command  of  Paul  iv.  was 
declared  to  have  died  with  him. 

It  is  said  that  Lainez  himself  was  proposed  for  the 
papacy  after  the  death  of  Paul  iv.  The  conclave  of 
cardinals  on  such  an  occasion  is,  as  is  known,  as  isolated 
as  a  jury-room,  but  a  cardinal  might  summon  his  con- 
fessor, and  it  is  not  only  stated  by  Sacchini,  but  con- 
firmed by  Cardinal  Otho  years  afterwards,  that  Lainez 
was  called  in  by  Otho  and  told  that  his  name  would  be 
proposed.  We  have  no  just  ground  to  doubt  this  state- 
ment, but  we  have  very  good  reason  to  refuse  to  regard 
it  as  a  serious  proposal.  The  papal  election  of  1559 
lasted  three  months,  and  was  marked  bv  a  bitter  struo-o-le 
of  France,  Spain,  and  Italy.  It  engrossed  the  attention 
of  Europe,  yet  not  a  single  Roman  ambassador  or  prelate 
of  the  time  mentions  the  name  of   Lainez.     Even  the 


EARLY  STORMS  63 

words  used  by  Cardinal  Otho  years  afterwards  are  known 
to  us  only  in  a  Jesuit  version. 

Cardinal  Medici,  who  now  became  Pius  iv.,  proved 
to  be  one  of  the  most  generous  patrons  of  the  Society. 
Although  he  was  a  Pope  of  the  cultured  and  liberal  type, 
and  would  have  little  personal  inclination  to  favour  them, 
he  seems  to  have  concluded  that  the  Jesuits  were  the 
most  formidable  champions  of  his  authority,  and  he  gave 
them  many  privileges.  It  was  he  who,  in  1561,  gave 
them  permission  to  build  within  the  sphere  of  other 
orders,  and  to  grant  academic  degrees  in  their  colleges, 
and  he  directed  his  local  representatives  everywhere  to 
protect  and  aid  them.  With  such  an  auxiliary  the 
vigorous  and  gifted  general  was  enabled  to  conduct  the 
affairs  of  his  Society  with  a  success  which  will  appear 
as  we  review  its  life  in  the  various  provinces.  Only 
one  further  personal  detail  need  be  added  in  regard  to 
Lainez.  Although  the  orders  of  Caraffa  had  been 
declared  void,  he  professed  a  scruple  when  he  had  held 
the  generalship  for  three  years,  and  proposed  to  resign. 
In  view  of  his  behaviour  at  the  election  one  is  not  dis- 
posed to  look  for  sincerity  in  this  scruple,  nor  does  the 
issue  suggest  it.  His  confessor  told  him  that  he  must 
consult  his  councillors  (or  assistants).  They  resisted 
his  proposal,  but  he  still  affected  qualms,  and  sent  a 
circular  letter  to  all  the  professed  fathers,  in  which  he 
purported  to  place  before  them,  for  their  guidance,  all 
the  pros  and  cons  of  his  design.  The  letter  is,  however, 
a  transparent  plea  for  power.  The  electors  unanimously 
insisted  that  he  should  retain  office,  and  he  returned  to 
his  task  with  firrrier  authority. 

The  British  Isles  still  remained  a  dark  and  almost 
inaccessible  territory  on  the  Jesuit  map,  but  Englishmen, 
flying  from  the  penal  laws  of  Elizabeth,  began  to  enter 
the   Society  on    the    continent,  and  one  or  two  secret 


64  THE  JESUITS 

missions  were  sent  out.     Thomas  King  was  sent  from 
Louvain  to  England,  but  he  died  in  the  following  year 
(1565),  and  is  merely  stated  to  have  made  a  few  converts. 
Another  refugee  in  Belgium,  an  Irishman  named  David 
Woulfe,  had  been  sent  in  1560  to  his  native  land  with 
the  position  of  Nuncio.      He  was  so  effectively  disguised 
that   in  France  he  was  arrested  as  a    Lutheran.      His 
early  reports  represent  him   as  an  austere  spectator  of 
the  general  corruption  of  the  Irish  clergy,  monks,  and 
people.     He  speaks  of  giving  absolution,  in  one  year,  to 
a   thousand  penitents  who  had  contracted  "incestuous 
marriages,"    and    describes    the    people    coming  to   his 
retreat  in  their  shirts    and   bare    feet.     Father  Woulfe 
seems   to  have  caught    the   taint,   however,   as   he  was 
some  years  later  ignominiously  expelled  from  the  Society. 
William  Good,  a  Somersetshire  man,  and  "  Edmund  the 
Irishman,"   joined    him    in     1564,    distributing    to    the 
peasantry    the    dispensations    and    indulgences    which 
England  proscribed,  to  the  grave  inconvenience  of  the 
papal  treasury. 

The  mission  to  Scotland  was  not  less  adventurous. 
It  was  the  year   1562,  when  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  had 
returned  from  France,  full  of  sad  foreboding,  to  the  land 
of  John  Knox.     Nicholas  Gouda  was  sent  from  Louvain, 
in  the  secret  character  of  Nuncio,  to  console  and  assist 
her,    and   two    Scottish    students.    Hay   and    Crichton, 
accompanied  him.     They  were  dressed  as  gentlemen  of 
quality,    who    would    see    the    world.       Unfortunately, 
Crichton   betrayed    the    secret    to   an    acquaintance   at 
Leith,  and  the  fiery  cross  passed  from  pulpit  to  pulpit 
in  the  city  of   Edinburgh.     Gouda  sent  Crichton  back 
to  Louvain  and  went  on  himself  to  Edinburgh.     After 
many  fruitless   attempts   to   see   Mary,  he  was  at   last 
admitted  one  night,  by  a  postern  gate,  to  the  presence 
of  the  beautiful  and  distracted  young  queen,  but  there 


EARLY   STORMS  6$ 

was  nothing  to  be  done.  He  asked  that  the  bishops 
might  be  assembled  somewhere  to  meet  him,  and  it 
appeared  that  there  was  only  one  bishop,  on  one  of  the 
islands,  who  would  venture  to  receive  him,  if  he  were 
well  disguised.  It  seems  that  the  least  remarkable  dress 
to  don  on  visiting  his  lordship  was  that  of  a  money- 
lender, and  Father  Nicholas,  so  habited,  traversed  wild 
and  stern  Caledonia.  The  rumour  of  his  presence  got 
about,  and  the  Covenanters  kept  watch  at  Edinburgh 
for  his  return.  A  French  merchant  comino^  in  from 
Aberdeen  was  sorely  beaten  by  them  before  he  could 
prove  his  identity.  But  two  of  the  faithful  met  Gouda 
outside  Edinburgh,  and  they  sailed,  with  a  small  band  of 
Scottish  aspirants,  for  Belgium. 

In  Italy  the  story  is  one  of  much  progress  and  bitter 
hostility.  By  1561  there  were  two  hundred  and  sixty 
Jesuits  (in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  word)  in  Rome,  of 
whom  a  hundred  and  ninety  were  students  in  the  Roman 
college.  They  were  prospering  in  the  sunshine  of  the 
Pope's  favour.  Elsewhere  in  Italy,  however,  they  re- 
ceived hard  blows.  No  less  than  four  serious  storms 
broke  on  the  Society  in  various  parts  of  Italy  in  the 
year  1561. 

First  it  was  reported  from  the  Valtellina  that  the 
fathers  had  been  expelled,  and  forbidden  the  whole 
territory  of  the  Orisons,  on  the  ground  that  they  had 
shown  an  undue  eagerness  in  securing  an  old  man's 
money.  Next  there  was  trouble  in  Montepulciano. 
The  good  fathers  had,  Sacchini  says,  induced  so  large 
a  proportion  of  the  women  of  Montepulciano  to  lead 
proper  lives  that  the  men  were  infuriated.  They  bribed 
a  loose  woman  to  attempt  to  seduce  one  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  they  engaged  a  man  to  dress  as  a  Jesuit  and  let 
himself  be  seen  coming  from  a  disorderly  house.  The 
Montepulciano  version  of  the  matter  is,  of  course,  that 
5 


66  THE  JESUITS 

one  Jesuit  accosted  a  woman  and  another  was  seen 
leavine  an  unbecominof  house.  To  make  matters  worse, 
a  woman  accused  the  Jesuit  rector,  Father  Gambar,  of 
intimacy  with  her  sister.  It  was  an  act  of  jealousy,  as 
the  two  sisters  had  competed  for  the  rector's  smiles  ;  it 
is,  however,  admitted  that  Father  Gambar  had  been 
"indiscreet"  in  his  letters  to  the  lady,  which  were  made 
public.  The  civic  authorities  took  the  darker  view,  and 
requested  the  removal  of  Gambar.  When  Lainez  re- 
fused, the  townsfolk  threatened  to  talk  to  the  rector 
themselves,  and  he  fled.  Lainez  held  that  he  was 
innocent,  but  expelled  him  from  the  Society  for  running 
away  without  permission.  He  sent  some  of  the  older 
Jesuits  to  restore  order  in  Montepulciano,  but  it  was 
no  use.  The  citizens  withdrew  the  pension  they  had 
hitherto  given  the  Jesuits,  for  teaching,  and  refused  to 
crive  them  alms  or  house.  Lainez  fouorht,  with  his 
ablest  men  and  subsidies  from  Rome,  for  a  year  or  two, 
but  he  was  beaten  and  forced  to  dissolve  the  college. 

Then  Venice  reported  difficulties.  The  new  Arch- 
bishop, Trevisani,  detested  the  Jesuits,  and  assured  his 
friends  that  the  chiappini  ("humbugs,"  to  translate  it 
politely)  would  not  remain  long  in  Venice  under  his 
rule.  Incidents  multiplied,  and  in  1561  the  Senate  fell 
to  discussing  the  fathers  and  did  not  spare  them.  The 
gist  of  the  charge  was  that  they  were  foreigners  medd- 
ling with  the  affairs  of  Venice  ;  they  confessed  all  the 
noble  ladies  of  Venice,  called  on  them  in  their  homes, 
and  through  them  learned  the  official  secrets.  The 
debate  ended  with  words,  though  the  Doge  summoned 
Father  Palmio  and  warned  him  to  be  prudent ;  and  the 
men  of  Venice,  quoting  Montepulciano,  used  a  little 
domestic  authority  to  keep  their  wives  away  from  Jesuit 
confessionals. 

From    Naples,    in    the    same    year,    came    news   of 


EARLY  STORMS  6^ 

hostility  and  obloquy.  Salmeron  had  been  recalled  from 
Naples  to  Rome,  and  offensive  observers  began  to  form 
theories  of  the  recall.  When  the  legend  had  grown  to 
its  full  proportions,  it  ran  that  Father  Salmeron  had 
extorted  four  thousand  pounds  from  a  dying  woman, 
before  he  would  absolve  her,  and  had,  when  the  Pope 
heard  and  asked  an  explanation,  fled  to  Geneva  and 
turned  Protestant.  The  boys  sang  ballads  in  the  street 
about  Father  Salmeron  and  his  four  thousand  pounds, 
and  the  college  had  troubled  experiences.  Why 
Salmeron  was  not  sent  down  to  refute  the  legend,  and 
whether  there  really  was  some  little  difficulty  about  a 
sum  of  money,  we  cannot  say.  But  the  incident  shows 
that  Catholic  Naples  was  largely  hostile  to  the  Jesuits. 
The  Pope  had  to  intervene  and  use  the  authority  of  the 
Viceroy. 

A  few  years  later  a  more  serious  storm  broke  out  in 
the  north.  In  all  these  cases  of  charges  against  the 
early  Jesuits  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  ascertain  the 
truth  ;  the  case  is  always  stated  for  us  by  the  defence. 
It  happens  that  in  the  case  of  the  trouble  at  Milan  in 
1563  we  have  one  independent  document,  and  I  state 
the  facts  a  little  more  fully.  It  matters  little  whether 
the  various  Jesuits  were  guilty  or  not  in  these  local  dis- 
turbances, and  most  people  will  conclude,  roughly,  that 
they  were  probably  not  all  immaculate  and  impeccable. 
But  it  is  worth  while  ascertaining  if  all  this  violent 
hostility  to  the  Jesuits,  among  Catholic  peoples,  is  really 
founded  on  disappointed  vice  or  idle  calumny,  and  we 
may  take  the  Milan  affair  as  a  type. 

The  famous  Cardinal-Archbishop  of  Milan,  Carolo 
Borromeo,  was  a  nephew  of  the  Pope.  He  received  his 
position  in  1560,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-two,  and 
was  soon  under  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits.  It  was 
reported  to  the  Pope  that  Charles  was  giving  large  sums 


68  THE  JESUITS 

of  money  to  the  Jesuits,  and  seemed  to  have  an  idea  of 
joining  the  Society.  Then  the  young  archbishop's  Jesuit 
confessor,  Father  Ribera,  was  accused  of  unnatural  vice 
with  a  page  in  the  estabHshment  of  Donna  Virginia, 
Charles's  sister-in-law.  Sacchini  says  that  Charles 
investigated  the  charge  and  found  it  false,  and  that  a 
bishop  who  insisted  on  it  (and  accused  other  Jesuits 
besides  Ribera)  was  brought  before  Cardinal  Savelli  at 
Rome,  produced  his  witnesses — a  number  of  discharged 
or  former  students  at  the  Jesuit  college — and  was  himself 
punished  for  libel.  It  is  added  that  Charles  continued 
to  entrust  his  seminary  to  the  Jesuits,  and  would  not 
have  done  so  if  they  were  guilty.  Ribera,  it  is 
acknowledged,  was  sent  to  the  Indies  by  Lainez, 
but  only  because  the  Pope  disliked  his  influence  on 
Charles. 

The  Jesuit  case  is,  as  usual,  plausible,  but  does  not 
satisfy  a  close  inquirer.  To  send  a  distinguished  and 
fashionable  Jesuit  to  the  Indies  because  he  is  making 
his  penitent  more  pious  than  the  Pope  likes,  especially 
at  a  time  when  he  is  charged  with  vice,  is  hardly  the 
kind  of  action  we  should  expect  in  so  prudent  a  man  as 
Lainez.  It  was  a  very  drastic  measure  to  put  five 
thousand  miles  between  Ribera  and  his  saintly  penitent. 
As  to  Cardinal  Savelli's  inquiry,  we  can  quite  believe 
that  the  Pope  would  be  willing  to  draw  a  veil  over  a 
scandal,  which  might  ruin  the  Society  in  Italy,  once 
Lainez  had  sent  the  chief  culprit  on  the  foreign 
missions  ;  Cardinal  Savelli  was,  moreover,  the  patron 
and  protector  of  the  Jesuits,  and  he  seems  to  have  dis- 
missed the  witnesses  unheard  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  expelled  or  seceding  students  of  the  Society.  We 
can  further  understand  that  Charles  might  remain 
friendly  with  the  Jesuits  if  he  believed  that  one  man 
only  was  guilty,   and  that  man  was  punished  ;  but  we 


EARLY  STORMS  69 

shall  see  in  the  next  chapter  that  the  relations  of  Charles 
and  the  Jesuits  weix  disturbed,  and  that  in  1578  they 
made  an  extraordinarily  insolent  attack  on  the  cardinal 
in  his  own  city. 

But  the  chief  point  is  that  an  almost  contemporary 
writer,  Caspar  Schoppe,  maintains  on  the  highest 
authority  that  the  Jesuit  schools  at  Milan  were  deeply 
tainted  with  vice.  Schoppe  is  an  ardent  anti-Jesuit, 
and  must  be  read  with  discretion  when  his  authority 
is  remote.  In  this  case  he  calls  God  to  witness  that 
Cardinal  Frederic  Borromeo,  the  nephew  and  successor 
of  Charles,  said  in  his  (Schoppe's)  presence  that  he  had 
himself  found  the  Jesuit  college  at  Braida  so  corrupt 
that  he  would  not  suffer  any  Jesuit  to  come  near  him, 
would  not  allow  any  student  of  his  seminary  to  approach 
a  Jesuit  teacher,  and  would,  if  he  had  the  power,  for- 
bid any  Jesuit  to  teach.^  Cretineau-Joly  replies  that 
Schoppe  is  evidently  lying,  since  the  known  date  of 
his  birth  makes  it  impossible  that  he  should  ever  have 
conversed  with  Charles  Borromeo.  This  confusion  of 
Frederic  and  Charles  is  originally  due  to  Ouesnel,  who 
makes  that  mistake  in  quoting  Schoppe,  but  it  is  very 
singular  that  the  French  apologist  for  the  Jesuits  should 
not  know  that  Schoppe  spoke  of  Fredeidc  Borromeo, 
not  Charles,  as  is  pointed  out  in  later  editions  of 
Ouesnel.  It  is  still  more  singular  that  Cretineau-Joly 
assures  his  readers  (who  are  not  likely  to  make  an 
arduous  search  for  Schoppe's  ancient  work)  that  the 
statement  is  made  "sous  forme  dubitative,"  when  he 
must  know  that  it  is  the  most  solemn  and  emphatic 
statement  in  Schoppe's  book.  The  impartial  student 
must  conclude  that  there  is  grave  evidence  against  the 
Milan  Jesuits,  and  that  hostility  to  the  Jesuits  had  at 

^  Relatio  ad  Reges,  by  Alphonsus   de  Vargas  (Caspar  Schoppe),  1636, 
p.  40. 


70  THE  JESUITS 

times  a  more  respectable  ground  than  they  are  willing 
to  admit. 

The  Pope  did  not  stint  his  patronage  of  the  Society 
on  account  of  these  accusations.  When  the  Cardinal- 
Protector  of  the  Society  died  in  1564,  Pius  iv.  under- 
took that  office  himself,  as  if  to  intimidate  its  critics ; 
though  the  critics  were  not  in  the  least  intimidated. 
Shortly  afterwards  he  appointed  a  commission  of 
cardinals  and  prelates  to  consider  the  establishment  of  a 
seminary  at  Rome,  and  they  recommended  that  the 
Jesuits  should  have  charge  of  it.  The  proposal  inflamed 
the  Roman  critics  of  the  Society,  and  Montepulciano 
and  Milan  and  all  the  other  scandals  were  fiercely  dis- 
cussed. The  Pope  held  firm,  however,  and  the  struggle 
had  not  ended  when  Lainez  died. 

In    Spain    and   Portugal    the    Society    continued   to 

make    material    progress   and,  in  the  same  proportion, 

morally  to  deteriorate.      Favoured  by  the  genial   clime 

of   the  Peninsula,  the  Society  ran   quickly  through    its 

normal  course  of  development  and  bore  precocious  fruit. 

The  college  at  Coimbra  had,  as  we  have    seen,  needed 

purification    even    under    Ignatius.      It    now    prospered 

again,  and  maintained  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  novices 

and   priests.      But    the    most    notable     feature    of    the 

Portuguese   province  was  the  early  interference  of  the 

Jesuits   in    politics.     The   primitive  design  of  avoiding 

politics  and  forbidding  Jesuits  to  frequent  the  courts  of 

princes  had  first  been  set  aside  by  Ignatius  himself,  and 

was  quite  inconsistent  with  the  general  idea  of  obtaining 

the  favour  of  the  rich  and  powerful.      In   Portugal  the 

court  was  now  dominated  by  Jesuits  ;  Father  Miguel  de 

Torres  was  confessor  of  the  Queen-Regent  Catherine, 

Father    Gonzales   da    Camara   confessor  of  the  young 

King  Sebastian,  and  Father  Leo  Henriquez  confessor  of 

Cardinal  Dom   Henry,  the  King's  grand-uncle.      It  may 


EARLY  STORMS  71 

be  read  in  any  history  of  Portugal  how  the  Cardinal 
began,  at  the  instigation  and  with  the  assistance  of  the 
Jesuits,  to  intrigue  for  the  Regency,  and  in  1562  forced 
Catherine  to  abdicate.  In  a  letter,  dated  8th  June 
1 57 1,  which  Catherine  afterwards  wrote  to  General 
Borgia,  we  are  plainly  informed  of  the  intrigues  of  the 
confessors.  "Everyone  knows,"  says  the  Queen,  "that 
the  evils  which  afflict  this  kingdom  are  caused  by  some 
of  your  fathers,  who  are  so  misguided  as  to  advise  the 
King,  my  grandson,  to  displace  me  and  expel  me  from  my 
State."  She  had  dismissed  her  confessor  Torres,  who 
advised  her  to  submit  to  the  intrigues  of  her  brother  and 
Father  Gonzales,  but  after  a  five  years'  struggle  she  was 
forced  to  retire  from  Spain.  Father  Gonzales  then 
became  the  most  powerful  man  in  Portugal,  and  made 
his  brother  Prime  Minister,  until,  as  we  shall  see, 
Sebastian  became  old  enough  to  put  an  end  to  their 
intrigues. 

In  Spain  the  Society  was  less  prosperous.  The 
historic  struggle  at  Alcala  had  ended  in  the  capture  of 
the  university  by  the  Jesuits,  but  at  Seville,  Valladolid, 
and  other  towns  there  was  persistent  opposition,  and  at 
Grenada  a  dangerous  agitation  arose  because  a  Jesuit 
confessor  compelled  a  penitent  to  name  her  accomplice 
in  vice.  Borgia  himself  had  many  enemies  at  court, 
and  the  opposition  to  him  culminated  at  length  in  an 
attack  which  compelled  him  to  fly  to  Portugal.  Two 
works  of  piety  which  he  had  written  in  earlier  years  were 
denounced  to  the  Inquisition  and  condemned.  It  is  said 
by  the  Jesuits  that  the  suspected  passages  in  his  books 
were  interpolated  by  the  man  who  published  them,  and 
the  point  is  of  little  interest.  Borgia  did  not  remain  to 
face  the  questions  of  the  Inquisitors,  and  the  King  became 
so  angry  with  him  that,  when  he  was  invited  by  Lainez 
to  the  metropolitan  house  at  Rome,  the  Spanish  fathers 


72  THE  JESUITS 

warned  Lainez   that    if  any  dignity  were  conferred  on 
Borgia  it  would  be  deeply  resented  at  the  court. 

This  trouble  had  hardly  ended  in  the  disgrace  and 
flight  of  Borgia  when  a  very  grave  domestic  quarrel 
arose  in  the  Castilian  province.  Lainez  had  sent  Father 
Natalis  from  Rome  to  inspect  the  province,  and  the 
Castilian  Provincial,  Father  Araoz  (nephew  of  Ignatius), 
discovered  that  Natalis  had  secret  instructions  to  destroy 
his  position  at  court.  Araoz,  the  oldest  Jesuit  in  Spain, 
and  a  favourite  at  court,  had  won  a  position  of  comfort 
and  power  which  was  certainly  not  consistent  with  the 
personal  ideal  of  the  Society.  When,  however,  they 
endeavoured  to  dislodge  him,  he  took  a  drastic  revenge 
on  the  Roman  authorities.  Natalis  was  collectingf  and 
sending  to  Rome  a  good  deal  of  money,  when  an  instruc- 
tion was  suddenly  issued  from  the  court  pointing  out  that 
it  was  against  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  to  send  money 
abroad  or  send  men  to  study  in  other  countries.  This 
order  was  openly  attributed  by  the  Jesuits  to  the  influence 
of  Father  Araoz.  An  angry  quarrel  ensued,  and  one  of 
the  friends  of  Araoz  produced  the  secret  instructions  which 
Lainez  had  o-iven  to  Natalis  and  some  father  had  stolen. 
We  need  not  enlarge  on  this  quarrel.  It  is  more  interest- 
ing to  note  that  the  Jesuits  urged  that  their  action  in 
sending  money  to  Rome  did  not  come  under  the  royal 
order  since  the  Church  has  no  frontiers.  For  some  years 
the  affairs  of  the  Society  in  Spain  remained  in  a  very 
troubled  condition,  in  spite  of  their  great  prosperity. 

In  France  we  naturally  find  the  sternest  struggle 
of  the  decade,  as  the  large  Protestant  population  was 
supported  by  the  majority  of  the  Catholics  in  opposition 
to  the  Jesuits.  The  early  effort  to  woo  Paris  by 
austerity  of  life  and  humble  care  of  the  sick  had  wholly 
failed.  The  Archbishop,  the  university,  and  the 
lawyers   of  the    Parlement   had    observed    that    these 


EARLY  STORMS  73 

humble  ministers  had  the  most  formidable  privileges  in 
their  reserved  baggage,  and  they  had  put  the  Jesuits  out 
of  the  gates.  They  remained  in  the  meadows  of  St, 
Germain  for  five  or  six  years,  and  then,  in  1560,  Lainez 
ordered  a  fresh  campaign.  His  representative  at  Paris 
was  the  astute  intriguer,  Father  Cogordan,  who  had 
given  Lainez  painful  proof  of  his  ability  at  Rome.  France 
was  on  the  eve  of  a  terrible  struggle  of  Catholics  and 
Huguenots,  and  Cogordan  had  little  difficulty  in  per- 
suading the  Queen  that  the  Jesuits  were  the  appointed 
force  for  checking  Protestantism.  The  Parlement  was 
ordered  to  register  the  letters  of  Henry  11.,  authorising 
the  Jesuits.  The  courageous  lawyers  refused  once  more, 
and  the  whole  of  the  faculties  of  the  university  joined 
in  an  emphatic  condemnation  of  the  Jesuits  and  their 
privileges. 

The  next  move  of  the  Jesuits  is  noteworthy. 
Cogordan  was  instructed  to  reply  that  the  Jesuits  would 
sacrifice,  in  France,  any  privileges  which  were  opposed 
to  the  laws  of  the  country  or  the  rights  of  the  French 
Church.  Their  opponents  were  quite  aware  that  the 
sacrifice  was  insincere  and  temporary,  but  the  manoeuvre 
greatly  weakened  the  position  of  the  Archbishop.  As  a 
last  resource  he  stipulated  that  they  should  also  abandon 
the  name  "Society  of  Jesus,"  which  many  Catholics 
considered  offensively  arrogant,  and  again  Cogordan 
assented.  The  Parlement,  however,  still  refused  to 
register  the  royal  letters,  and  threw  the  decision  upon  a 
Council  which  was  to  be  held  at  Poissy,  where  Catholics 
and  Huguenots  were  to  meet  in  a  dialectical  tourney. 

Francis  11.  had  died  at  the  close  of  1560,  and 
Catherine  de  Medici,  the  virtual  ruler,  was  entirely  won 
to  the  Jesuit  view.  But  the  Huguenots,  led  by  the 
Prince  de  Conde  and  Admiral  de  Coligny,  were  so 
powerful  that  sober  Catholic  opinion  favoured  concession 


74  THE  JESUITS 

to  them  in  the  interest  of  peace  :  a  policy  which  the 
Jesuits  ruthlessly  opposed  wherever  the  Catholics  were 
still  in  the  majority.  The  Colloquy  at  Poissy  was, 
therefore,  doubly  interesting  to  the  Jesuits,  and  Lainez 
went  in  person,  in  the  train  of  the  Pope's  legate. 
Cardinal  d'Este,  to  secure  their  aims  ;  he  was  to  obtain 
the  recognition  of  the  Society  and  to  prevent  the  recon- 
ciliation of  Catholics  and  Huguenots.  Unhappily  he 
succeeded  in  both  designs.  The  Colloquy  opened  in 
July,  when  a  small  group  of  the  abler  Huguenot  divines 
confronted  six  cardinals  and  forty  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops, under  the  eyes  of  the  King  and  Queen.  When, 
after  a  few  sittings,  it  was  seen  that  concessions  must 
be  made  to  the  heretics,  Lainez  delivered  a  fiery  and 
eloquent  discourse  against  this  proposed  sacrilege. 
Catherine  de  Medici  trembled,  and  would  attend  no 
more  sittings.  The  Colloquy  ended  in  a  futile  wrangle 
of  Lainez  and  the  Huguenots,  and  France,  thanks 
very  largely  to  Lainez,  went  on  her  way  toward  St. 
Bartholomew. 

The  sincerity  of  Lainez  in  this  fanatical  gospel  of 
intolerance  cannot  be  doubted,  but  it  is  in  piquant 
contrast  to  the  second  part  of  his  mission,  in  which  he 
equally  succeeded.  He  brought  with  him  testimonials 
to  the  work  done  by  his  Society  in  a  hundred  places, 
confirmed  the  promise  that  they  would  lay  aside  their 
privileges  and  their  very  name  (until  it  was  safe  to 
resume  them),  and  thus  secured  the  right  of  entry  into 
Paris  for  this  nameless  body  of  priests.  This  was  done, 
of  course,  by  quiet  activity  among  the  prelates,  without 
any  public  discussion.  Lainez  remained  several  months 
in  France,  strengthening  the  new  foundation  and — at  the 
very  time  when  he  was  urging  Conde,  in  a  friendly 
correspondence,  to  induce  the  Protestants  to  join  in 
the    Council    of   Trent — using   the  whole    of   his  great 


EARLY  STORMS  75 

influence   over   the    Queen    and    court   to   prevent  any 
concession  of  churches   or   other    normal  rights  to  the 
Huguenots.     As   a    result   of   his   success,    the    Jesuits 
moved    into    Paris   and   took    possession    of    the    hotel 
which  the    Bishop  of   Clermont   had    bequeathed  them 
some  years  before.     We  can  hardly  suppose  that  they 
were  following-  the  advice  of  the  saoracious  Lainez  when 
they  inscribed  over  the  door  the  words  "College  of  the 
Society  of  the  Name  of  Jesus."     This  flippant  evasion 
of  their  promise  to  abandon  their  name  did  not  tend  to 
conciliate  Parisians.     When  they  succeeded  in  a  short 
time,    with    their  free    classes    and   ablest    teachers,    in 
drawing  some  hundreds  of  youths  from  the  university, 
they  became  bolder  and  announced  that  the  "Clermont 
College "  was   incorporated  with    the  university.       The 
rector,    Marchand,   indignantly   challenged    their   claim, 
and  they  produced  letters  of  incorporation  which  they 
had   secretly  obtained    from  his    predecessor  two  years 
before.       They  could  not  insist  on  the  validity  of  this 
irregular  diploma,  and  the  close  of   the  generalship  of 
Lainez  saw   them   once    more    in    a    position    of  grave 
insecurity  and  unpopularity. 

A  somewhat  similar  struggle  was  taking  place  in 
Belgium.  The  university  and  civic  authorities  at 
Louvain  resisted  them,  and  their  college  remained  so 
poor  that  we  find  its  rector  complaining  to  Rome  of  the 
burden  of  supporting  Father  Ribadeneira,  who,  as  we 
have  previously  seen,  had  been  sent  to  further  Jesuit 
interests  at  the  court  of  Philip  in  Belgium.  Even  when 
Margaret  of  Austria,  whom  they  easily  secured,  bade 
the  States  of  Brabant  admit  the  Jesuits,  they  refused, 
and  they  yielded  only  to  the  direct  intervention  of 
Philip  in  1564. 

On    the   other    hand,  the   able   and    devoted   Jesuit 
Canisius  was  laying  the  foundation  of  his  Society  very 


76  THE  JESUITS 

firmly  in  the  Catholic  provinces  of  Germany.  Canisius 
is  the  greatest  figure  in  the  second  decade  of  the  Society's 
life,  and  seems  to  have  been  a  more  deeply  religious 
and  conscientious  man  than  Lainez.  He  maintained 
to  the  end  the  more  austere  standard  of  life,  travelling 
afoot  from  city  to  city,  from  Rhineland  to  Poland  and 
Austria,  and  inaugurating  everywhere  the  effective 
system  of  education  which  Ranke  has  declared  superior 
to  that  of  the  Reformers.  The  University  of  Dillingen 
was  entrusted  to  the  Jesuits,  the  frontiers  of  the  Society 
were  extended  to  Poland  in  1554,  and  the  laity  were 
identified  with  its  interests  in  the  Catholic  cities  by 
being  drafted  into  the  numerous  sodalities  or  confra- 
ternities which  the  Jesuits  controlled.  The  historian 
can  dwell  with  more  sympathy  on  their  generally  en- 
lightened struggle  with  Protestantism  and  with  Catholic 
corruption  in  Germany,  where  heresy  provided  them 
with  a  bracing  atmosphere  and  a  healthy  incentive  to 
work.  Even  here,  however,  we  find  them  at"*  times 
stooping  to  tactics  which  we  cannot  admire,  and  the 
next  chapter  will  introduce  them  to  us  in  some  singular 
adventures.  Their  conduct  in  Bavaria,  especially,  does 
not  invite  close  scrutiny.  Albert  v.  was  heavily 
burdened  with  debt,  and  it  is  somethincf  more  than  a 
coincidence  that,  the  moment  he  admitted  the  Jesuits, 
the  Vatican  made  him  a  large  grant  out  of  ecclesiastical 
funds  ;  it  is  even  clearer  that  the  Jesuits  were  chiefly 
responsible  for  the  persecution  of  Protestants  which 
followed  their  settlement  in  Bavaria. 

Lainez  had  made  a  tour  of  these  provinces  after 
establishing  his  Society  in  France.  From  Paris  he  had 
passed  to  Belgium,  where  the  Duchess  of  Parma  was 
rulino-  in  the  name  of  her  brother.  Maro^aret  had  heard 
Lainez  preach  at  Rome,  and  he  easily  secured  her 
interest  for  his  struggling  brethren  in    Flanders.       He 


EARLY  STORMS  'J^ 

then  went  on  to  Trent,  where,  in  1562,  the  Council 
resumed  its  sittings.  There  was  no  longer  the  least 
hope  of  persuading  the  Reformers  to  attend,  and  it  now 
remained  for  the  Church  to  decide  what  modifications 
it  would  adopt  in  order  to  meet  the  Protestant  indict- 
ment. The  northern  monarchs,  confronted  with  the 
task  of  reconciling  large  Catholic  and  Protestant  popu- 
lations, were  disposed  to  make  concessions,  and  their 
clergy  were  at  least  eager  to  check  the  arrogant  claims 
and  moderate  the  extravagance  of  the  papal  court. 
This  policy  was  opposed  by  Italy,  Spain,  and  the 
Papacy,  and  the  Jesuits  were  the  most  violent  partisans 
of  the  ultramontane  attitude.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  an 
error  to  ascribe  to  Lainez  a  preponderant  role  in  the 
unhappy  councils  that  were  adopted  at  Trent,  but  what- 
ever influence  his  learning  and  eloquence  gave  him  was 
used  for  the  purpose  of  magnifying  the  papal  authority. 
Even  the  wealth  and  luxury  of  the  Roman  court, 
which  had  been  so  largely  responsible  for  the  schism, 
found  in  him  an  eloquent  defender.  He  was  able  to 
return  to  Rome  with  an  assurance  that  the  Catholic 
States  made  no  concession,  while  the  northern  prelates 
had  to  retire  to  their  seats  with  grave  foreboding  of 
bloody  struggle. 

Of  the  Jesuit  missions  beyond  the  seas  during  this 
decade  little  need  be  said.  In  India  alone  some  material 
progress  was  made,  and  it  was  largely  due  to  tactics 
which  promised  no  permanent  result.  Writers  like 
Cretineau-Joly  deliberately  omit  the  most  significant 
details  in  regard  to  these  early  missions,  and  give  a 
most  misleading  impression  that  tens  of  thousands  of 
natives  were  gathered  into  the  fold  by  the  spiritual 
teachincr  and  exalted  labours  of  the  missionaries.  The 
early  Jesuits  themselves  are  more  candid.  They  tell, 
for  instance,  how  in   1559  they  made  a  descent,  with  an 


78  THE  JESUITS 

accompanying  troop  of  soldiers,  on  an  island  whose  in- 
habitants had  long  resisted  baptism.  The  natives  were 
held  up  by  the  troops,  and  their  leaders  were  put  in 
irons  and  told  that  they  were  to  be  deported.  In  the 
circumstances  they  professed  themselves  eager  to  be 
baptized,  and  the  sacred  rite  and  a  good  dinner  were 
at  once  bestowed  on  five  hundred  "converts."  The 
Portuguese  authority  was  the  chief  agency  on  which 
the  missionaries  relied.  The  most  tempting  privileges 
were  granted  to  converts ;  the  administrative  offices 
which  the  Hindoo  clergy  had  exercised  for  ages  were 
transferred  to  the  Jesuits;  and  in  1557  even  the  tribunal 
of  the  Inquisition  was  set  up  by  them  in  India. 

In  other  lands  the  missionary  record  was  singularly 

barren   during  the   decade.      In   Brazil   the   fathers  still 

wandered  in  the  forests,  slowly  winning  the  confidence 

and    allegiance    of   the    natives    by    medical    and    other 

humane  services.     Abyssinia   was  once  more  invaded, 

and  some  of  the  fathers   entered   the  Congo,  but  both 

missions  were  destroyed  after  a  few  years.      In  Egypt 

an  attempt  was  made  to  induce  the  Copts  to  recognise 

the  authority  of  the  Pope.      Rich   presents   were   made 

to   the   Patriarch,  and   the   Papacy  was   flattered   for  a 

time   by   reports  of  success ;  but   the  adventure  ended 

in  the  painful  and  ignominious  flight  of  the  missionaries 

from   the   country.      The  Japanese   missions  also   were 

almost  destroyed  in  the  course  of  the  decade,  and  two 

ingenious  attempts  to  enter  China  proved  unsuccessful. 

In  1556  Father  Melchior  Nunez  was  permitted  to  reach 

Canton,  but  his  very  diplomatic  account  of  his  object 

did   not   convince    the   mandarins  and    he   was  politely 

expelled.      In  1563  a  further  attempt  was  made.     The 

mandarins  were  informed  that  an  embassy  had  arrived 

from  Europe  with  valuable  presents  for  the  Emperor. 

The   cautious   mandarins  asked  to   see    its    credentials, 


EARLY  STORMS  79 

and,  when  they  were  told  that  these  had  been  accident- 
ally destroyed  on  the  voyage,  they  again  amiably  con- 
ducted their  visitors  to  the  frontier.  There  were  three 
Jesuits,  in  disguise,  among  the  "envoys,"  and  it  is  clear 
that  the  whole  expedition  was  a  fraudulent  attempt  of 
the  merchants  and  missionaries  from  Goa  to  break  the 
reserve  of  the  Chinese. 

Such  were  the  fortunes  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
during  the  decade  which  closed  with  the  death  of 
Lainez  in  1565.  The  hundred  establishments  which 
Ignatius  had  bequeathed  to  him  in  1556  had  now  in- 
creased to  a  hundred  and  fifty  ;  the  thousand  subjects 
had  become  three  thousand.  From  Portugal  to  Poland 
the  Jesuits  were  the  most  ardent  soldiers  in  the  war 
against  the  advancing  heretics,  and  there  was  hardly 
a  Catholic  court  in  Europe  that  did  not  welcome  the 
children  of  lenatius  and  bow  in  secret  to  their  advice. 
Yet  a  keen  observer  like  Lainez  must  have  perceived 
that  this  prosperity  was  less  solid  than  it  appeared,  and 
his  last  years  were  saddened  by  announcements  of 
hostility  and  defeat.  In  France  and  Belgium  the  gain 
was  wholly  disproportionate  to  the  exacting  struggle 
they  had  maintained  ;  in  Portugal  the  material  success 
and  political  action  were  lowering  the  ideal  of  the 
Society  ;  in  Spain  the  Catholic  monarch,  the  Inquisi- 
tion, and  the  higher  clergy  were  hostile  ;  and  England 
kept  its  doors  sternly  closed  against  the  Jesuits.  The 
future  was  still  uncertain,  and  another  Caraffa  might 
at  any  time  accede  to  the  papal  chair.  With  a  last 
glance  at  the  ex- Duke  of  Gandia,  as  if  to  intimate 
that  Borgia  was  the  fittest  to  take  up  the  burden  he 
laid  down,  the  second  General  of  the  Society,  able, 
energetic,  and  high-minded  to  the  last,  sank  wearily  to 
his  rest. 


CHAPTER  IV 

GENERAL   FRANCIS   BORGIA 

The  election  which  followed  the  death  of  Lainez  was 
not  marred  by  any  of  the  painful  incidents  which  we 
frequently  find  on  such  occasions  in  the  Jesuit  chronicles. 
When  the  leading  fathers  of  the  Society  reached  Rome 
in  the  early  summer,  to  compare  their  stories  of  warfare 
in  every  clime  of  Europe  and  consult  about  the  future 
of  their  oreat  org-anisation,  there  was  one  amonorst  them 
who  had  so  natural  a  pre-eminence  that  his  election  was 
assured.  This  was  Francis  Borgia,  ex-Duke  of  Gandia 
and  Viceroy  of  Catalonia.  There  were  in  the  distin- 
guished gathering  many  of  far  greater  ability  and  service 
— indeed,  there  was  probably  none  of  less  ability  than 
Borgia — but  his  high  birth,  his  friendship  with  half  the 
kings  of  Europe,  his  venerable  person  and  austere  life 
marked  him  clearly  for  the  supreme  command.  Philip 
of  Spain  had  outgrown  his  hostility,  and,  at  the  death  of 
Lainez,  Borgia  was  appointed  Vicar-General.  So  plain 
was  the  intention  of  the  electors  that  he  sincerely  begged 
them  not  to  impose  on  him  so  heavy  a  responsibility. 
They  disregarded  his  protest,  and  on  2nd  July  he 
became  General  of  the  Society. 

He  was  then  a  feeble  and  venerable  man  of  sixty- 
five,  worn  with  austerity,  profoundly  sincere  and  religious. 
In  his  person  he  singularly  illustrated  the  change  that 
had  come  over  Catholicism.  The  name  of  Borgia  at 
once  suggests  the  groves  of  pleasure  or  the  chambers  of 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  8i 

crime  out  of  which  the  Papacy  had  been  startled  by  the 
voice  of  Luther  :  his  father  had  been  a  son  of  Pope 
Alexander  vi.,  his  mother  an  illegitimate  daughter  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Saragossa,  who  in  turn  had  been  a 
natural  son  of  Ferdinand  v.  But  with  his  hair-shirts, 
his  bloody  scourges,  and  his  long  fasts,  Francis  belonged 
to  the  new  age,  and  seemed  to  have  taken  on  himself 
the  expiation  of  the  scarlet  sins  of  the  Borgias.  He 
had  been  Viceroy  of  Catalonia  from  1539  to  1543,  and 
had  then  suffered  for  some  years  a  mild  and  obscure 
disgrace.  During  this  enforced  retirement  to  his  duchy 
he  had  met,  and  fallen  under  the  charm  of,  Peter  Favre, 
and  he  was,  as  we  saw,  secretly  admitted  to  the  Society. 
Although  he  had  been  driven  from  Spain  only  a  few 
years  before,  the  Pope  had  restored  his  prestige,  and  his 
election  was  acclaimed  throughout  the  Society  and  the 
Church. 

We  may,  perhaps,  see  a  reflection  of  his  religious 
spirit,  as  well  as  an  indication  that  grave  abuses  had 
crept  into  the  Society,  in  the  long  series  of  decrees  which 
the  Congregation  proceeded  to  pass.  No  Jesuit  was 
henceforward  to  live  at  a  royal  court — at  least,  "  not  for 
more  than  two  or  three  months "  :  Jesuit  communities 
were  not  to  own  and  manage  large  farms,  and  sell  their 
produce  in  the  public  markets ;  lawsuits  on  behalf  of 
legacies  were  to  be  avoided ;  salaries  for  teaching  were 
to  be  abandoned  when  a  teacher  joined  the  Society. 
These  and  other  commands  ofive  us  an  authoritative 
assurance  that  there  was  much  disorder.  Even  in  the 
Congregation  the  liberals  or  casuists  were  represented. 
When,  in  the  discussion  of  the  impropriety  of  going  to 
law  to  secure  legacies,  one  of  the  sterner  brethren  quoted 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  another  plausibly  argued  that 
it  was  wrong  to  yield  to  worldlings  funds  which  might  be 
used  in  the  service  of  God.  The  Puritans  won,  and  their 
6 


82  THE  JESUITS 

decrees  went  forth  ;  but  the  farms  were  not  abandoned, 
as  we  shall  see,  nor  the  lawyers  impoverished. 

In  view  of  the  despotic  power  which  a  General  had, 
it  may  seem  strange  that  the  electors  should  venture  to 
entrust  the  office  to  a  man  of  such  mediocre  ability  as 
Borg-ia.  We  must  remember  that  the  General  had  a 
council  of  four  able  assistants,  and  it  could  safely  be 
trusted  that  the  humility  of  Borgia  would  leave  the 
power  in  their  hands.  Nor  was  it  long  before  their 
statesmanship  was  put  to  a  severe  test.  Their  princely 
benefactor,  Pius  iv.,  died  before  the  end  of  1565,  and  a 
Dominican  monk,  Pius  v.,  occupied  the  chair.  He  was 
a  personal  friend  of  Borgia,  but  he  belonged  to  a  rival 
order,  and  Rome  was  greatly  agitated  by  the  hope  that 
he  would  strip  the  Society  of  its  excessive  privileges. 
To  the  relief  and  delight  of  the  Jesuits,  Pius  v.  took 
the  earliest  opportunity  to  show  his  friendliness.  As  he 
drove  in  solemn  procession  past  their  church,  he  sum- 
moned the  General  to  his  carriage,  and  talked  affection- 
ately with  him  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  under  the  eyes  of 
his  officers.  When  he  went  on  to  nominate  Jesuits  for 
certain  important  offices,  it  seemed  that  they  had  found 
another  protector. 

In  1567,  however,  they  were  dismayed  to  receive  an 
amiable,  but  firm,  suggestion  from  Pius  to  chant  in 
choir,  as  other  religious  bodies  did,  and  abandon  the 
"simple"  or  temporary  vows  which  enabled  them  to 
keep  priests  in  the  Society  for  years  without  being 
solemnly  pledged  to  it.^  A  commission  of  cardinals  was 
at  the  time  engaged  in  discussing  the  reform  of  the 
monastic  world,  and  the  Jesuits  submitted  to  it  a  lengthy 

^  I  have  previously  explained  the  distinction  between  simple  and  solemn 
vows,  and  the  advantage  which  the  Jesuits  had  in  confining  the  latter  to  a 
chosen  few  of  their  body.  See  p.  30.  These  "  simple "  vows  are  now 
admitted  in  other  orders,  but  they  were  for  centuries  peculiar  to  the  Jesuits, 
and  were  very  distasteful  to  the  older  orders. 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA   ,     83 

and  skilful  memoir  in  defence  of  their  institutions. 
Ought  not  a  regiment  of  light  horse,  ready  to  fly  at 
a  moment's  notice  to  any  part  of  the  Pope's  dominions, 
to  have  special  characters  ?  Would  those  hundreds  of 
men  who  had  joined  the  Society  in  its  actual  form  not 
have  ground  to  complain  if  it  were  made  more  onerous  ? 
Would  the  benefactors  who  had  built  their  homes  and 
chapels  be  indifferent  to  the  changes  ?  Nay,  what 
would  the  heretics  say  when  the  decisions  of  a  whole 
series  of  Popes,  to  say  nothing  of  the  revelations  made 
to  Ignatius,  were  ruled  improper?  These  ingenious 
considerations  were  then  orally  impressed  on  the  Pope 
by  Borgia  and  Polanco,  and  they  flattered  themselves 
that  they  had  once  more  evaded  the  commands  which 
it  was  their  chief  business  to  see  respected  by  the  rest 
of  Christendom.  The  Pope  had  agreed  to  postpone  the 
question  of  choir  until  his  new  edition  of  the  Breviary 
was  published,  and  he  did  not  seem  to  insist  on  the 
reform  of  the  vows.  A  few  months  later,  however,  they 
heard  that  the  Pope  was  about  to  decree  that  in  future 
no  member  of  a  religious  body  should  be  admitted  to 
the  priesthood  until  he  had  taken  his  final  vows. 

The  details  of  the  struggle  need  not  be  repeated 
here,  but  we  must  assuredly  see  a  significance  in  these 
repeated  conflicts  with  the  Pope.  In  the  whole  history 
of  the  monastic  orders  of  the  Catholic  Church  there  is 
no  example  of  persistent  opposition  to,  or  determined 
evasion  of,  the  commands  of  the  Pope  to  compare  for 
a  moment  with  this  behaviour  of  the  men  who  took  a 
special  vow  to  obey  him.  Moreover,  the  Jesuit  writers 
of  the  time  frankly  confess  that  they  resisted  the  Pope's 
wish  in  their  own  interest.  If  the  solemn  vows  were  to 
be  taken  in  a  youth's  early  twenties,  they  would  have  to 
examine  much  more  closely  the  characters  of  aspirants 
to  the  Society,  and  their  numbers  would  shrink.     It  was 


84  THE  JESUITS 

one  of  the  most  constant  charges  against  them  in  every 
country,  that  in  the  admission  of  novices  they  sacrificed 
spiritual  quality  to  quantity  or  social  distinction  ;  and 
certainly  the  number  of  priests  who  abandoned,  or  were 
expelled  from,  the  Society  was  large.  Pius  v.  knew  this, 
and,  to  their  great  mortification,  insisted  on  the  reform  of 
their  system.  They  sullenly  abandoned  one  of  the  most 
characteristic  of  their  institutions — until  Pius  v.  should 
go  the  way  of  his  predecessors.  There  was  much 
rejoicing  in  Rome,  and  it  was  rumoured  that  this  was 
only  the  beginning  of  reform  ;  but  Pius  hastened  to 
reassure  Borgia  and  his  colleasi'ues. 

In  1 57 1,  Borgia  was  requested  by  the  Pope  to  under- 
take an  important  mission.  The  steady  advance  of  the 
Turks  upon  a  divided  Christendom  alarmed  the  Pope, 
and  he  wished  to  unite  the  Catholic  monarchs  for  the 
purpose  of  defence.  His  nephew.  Cardinal  Alessandrini, 
was  to  visit  the  courts  of  Spain,  Portugal,  and  France, 
and  Borgia  was  invited  to  accompany  him.  He  was  now 
advanced  in  years  and  tormented  with  gout,  but  he 
accepted  the  mission,  and  we  may  make  our  survey  of 
the  provinces  of  the  Society  by  following  his  travels. 

Spain  endeavoured  by  an  honourable  reception  to 
atone  for  the  disgrace  it  had  formerly  put  upon  him. 
The  King  promised  his  aid  against  the  Turk:  the  In- 
quisition permitted  the  publication  of  Borgia's  books  : 
the  Jesuits  everywhere  took  courage  at  sight  of  their 
venerable  leader  and  the  honour  paid  him.  The  Spanish 
province  had  continued,  since  the  death  of  Lainez,  to 
have  a  very  chequered  record.  The  father  of  the  pro- 
vince, Araoz,  had  resisted  every  effort  of  the  Roman 
authorities  to  dislodge  him  from  his  comfortable  nest  at 
the  court,  and  his  conduct  had  alienated  many  from  the 
Society.  On  the  other  hand,  the  devoted  exertions  of 
the  Jesuits  during  the  epidemics  of  1565,  1568,  and  157 1, 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  85 

had  won  back  much  of  the  early  respect  for  them,  and 
many  new  missions  had  been  established.  Most  of  the 
countries  of  Europe  were  repeatedly  ravaged  by  pesti- 
lence during  that  decade,  and  the  Jesuits  distinguished 
themselves  everywhere  by  the  bravery  with  which  they 
exposed,  and  frequently  lost,  their  lives  in  the  service  of 
the  sick.  Yet  there  was  a  persistent  feeling  in  Spain 
that  they  were  over-eager  to  secure  legacies,  and  nearly 
every  year  witnessed  a  violent  outbreak  of  hostility  to 
them. 

A  typical  instance  Is  found  in  the  Jesuit  chronicles 
in  the  earlier  part  of  the  year  of  Borgia's  visit.  The 
Jesuits  of  Alcala  had  received  into  their  ranks  a  youth 
named  Francesco  d'Espaiia,  the  son  of  a  wealthy  and 
distinguished  lady  of  Madrid,  who  strongly  opposed  his 
entrance  into  the  Society.  He  had  the  disposal  of  a 
large  fortune,  of  which  he  was  heir.  The  mother 
appealed  to  the  Royal  Council,  at  the  head  of  which  was 
Cardinal  Spinosa,  and  the  Jesuits  were  ordered  to  restore 
the  youth.  In  the  meantime,  they  had  secretly  sent  the 
youth  to  their  house  at  Madrid, — to  be  prepared  to  give 
evidence,  Cr^tineau-Joly  audaciously  says, — and  when 
the  Vicar  of  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo  came  to  their 
house  at  Alcala  to  enforce  the  order,  they  would  tell  him 
only  thatd'Espafia  was  not  there.  A  very  lively  dispute 
followed.  The  angry  prelate  roundly  abused  the  Jesuits, 
who  flourished  their  privileges  in  his  face ;  and  some 
zealous  brother  rang  the  bell  of  the  college  to  summon 
the  students  to  the  defence  of  their  rector.  When  at 
length  the  Vicar  threatened  to  have  the  Jesuit  Provincial 
dragged  to  prison,  and  the  students  drew  their  knives 
to  protect  him,  the  rector  promised  to  produce  d'Espaiia 
within  twenty-four  hours.  He  was  summoned,  and  his 
mother  tried  to  persuade  him  to  return,  or  at  least  to 
leave  his  fortune  to  his  family  instead  of  leaving  it  to  the 


86  THE  JESUITS 

Jesuits.  He  refused,  until  the  Provincial,  foreseeing  a 
great  outburst  of  indignation,  advised  him  to  relinquish 
his  fortune.  The  feeling  engendered  by  such  incidents 
was  not  removed  by  the  visit  of  Borgia.  In  the 
following  year,  1572,  the  civic  authorities  of  Madrid 
appealed  to  the  Royal  Council  to  close  the  Jesuit  school, 
on  the  ground  that  the  lessons  were  merely  "  bait  "  for 
young  men  of  wealthy  families. 
■  In  Portugal,  Borgia  found  the  remarkable  spectacle 
of  one  of  his  subjects  virtually  ruling  the  kingdom. 
Portugal  had  fallen  lamentably  from  its  earlier  greatness. 
The  vast  frame  of  its  Empire  was  undiminished,  but  the 
spirit  necessary  to  sustain  it  had  died,  and  it  was  doomed 
to  decay.  No  serious  historian  questions  that  the  Jesuits 
had,  at  least  by  setting  up  the  Inquisition  and  pursuing 
the  Jews  and  Moors,  greatly  accelerated  its  fall,  and 
under  the  rule  of  Father  Gonzales  da  Camara  and  his 
brother,  in  the  name  of  the  young  King,  the  temporal 
interests  of  Portugal  steadily  declined.  A  stern  French 
critic  of  the  Jesuits,  Pasquier,  says  that  he  was  told  by 
the  Marquis  de  Pisani,  the  French  ambassador  at  the 
Spanish  court,  that  the  Jesuits  were  bent  on  obtaining 
control  of  the  kingdom  of  Portugal.  Their  apologists 
invite  us  to  be  amused  at  this  incredible  fiction  of  the 
anti-Jesuit,  yet  it  is  hardly  more  than  a  strong  expression 
of  the  historical  facts.  Pasquier  expressly  says  that  the 
Jesuits  meant  to  rule,  not  without  a  king,  but  through  a 
king  of  their  own  choice,  and  they  had  done  this  for  ten 
years  when  Borgia  came  to  visit  them.  They  had,  as 
we  saw,  helped  to  replace  Catherine  by  Cardinal  Henry, 
and  they  had  in  1568  displaced  the  Cardinal  by  declar- 
ing Sebastian  of  age  (in  his  sixteenth  year). 

That  they  promoted  the  interests  of  the  Society  in 
Portugal  and  its  colonies  need  hardly  be  said,  but  there 
is  ample  evidence  that  they  had  a  larger  influence.     The 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  87 

King's  mother  wished  him  to  marry  the  daughter  of  the 
Emperor  MaximiHan,  but  papal  poHcy  preferred  a 
marriage  with  the  sister  of  the  French  King ;  and  we 
have  a  letter  from  Borgia  to  Gonzales,  as  confessor  of 
Sebastian,  enjoining  him  to  promote  the  French  marriage. 
Even  Borgia  could  overlook  the  decrees  of  his  Society 
at  times,  or  convert  temporal  matters  into  spiritual. 
We  may,  however,  regard  it  as  a  strained  and  fanciful 
conjecture  of  certain  critics  that  the  Portuguese  fathers 
tried  to  deter  Sebastian  from  marriage,  and  pressed  him 
to  undertake  his  fatal  mission  to  Africa,  in  order  that 
the  crown  might  fall  into  their  hands.  But  this  belongs 
to  a  later  date.  Father  Gonzales  was  still  the  virtual 
head  of  the  State  when  Borgia  visited  Portugal,  and  the 
Society  flourished  there  and  in  the  Indies.  Although 
Borgia  had  lately  received  an  angry  protest  from 
Catherine  against  the  interference  of  the  fathers  in 
political  matters,  he  left  Gonzales  at  the  court. 

Alessandrini  and  Borgia  next  went  to  France  ;  and 
when  we  reflect  that  the  historic  massacre  of  the 
Huguenots  occurred  a  few  months  afterwards,  we  feel 
that  it  is  important  to  study  the  visit  and  the  position  of 
the  Jesuits  with  some  care.  Let  us  first  see  how  the 
Society  had  fared  in  its  ceaseless  struggle  with  its 
opponents  at  Paris. 

In  1565  a  fresh  attack  had  been  made  on  the  Jesuit 
college,  and  a  fruitless  appeal  against  it  was  made  to  the 
Royal  Senate.  The  Jesuits  then  arraigned  the  Uni- 
versity, which  refused  to  recognise  their  college,  before 
the  Parliament,  and  a  fresh  opportunity  was  offered  to 
the  Parisian  lawyers  to  draw  up  their  scathing  indict- 
ments of  the  Society.  In  the  meantime.  Father  Possevin, 
rector  of  the  college  they  had  recently  opened  at  Lyons, 
was  sent  to  see  the  young  King  and  Catherine  de  Medici 
at  Bayonne,  and  induce  them  to  throw  their  power  and 


88  THE  JESUITS 

command  into  the  legal  scale.  The  conference  at 
Bayonne,  at  which  Possevin  assisted  in  some  measure,  is 
of  grave  importance  in  the  history  of  Europe.  On  the 
pretext  of  making  Charles  acquainted  with  his  kingdom, 
Catherine  was  brino^ing-  him  into  the  neicrhbourhood  of 
other  Catholic  princes  and  conferring  with  them.  At 
Bayonne  she  met  the  wife  of  Philip  of  Spain,  and  in  the 
Queen's  suite  was  the  grim  Duke  of  Alva.  We  can  only 
conjecture  what  was  discussed  at  this  conference,  but  no 
one  doubts  that  the  chief  subject  was  the  growth  of 
Protestantism  in  Catholic  lands.  Protestant  historians 
frequently  suggest  that  the  St.  Bartholomew  massacre 
was  actually  projected  at  Bayonne,  but  we  are  hardly 
justified  in  thinking  that  there  was  anything  more  than 
a  general  discussion  of  the  brutal  policy  which  was  after- 
wards adopted  by  Alva  in  the  Netherlands  and  Catherine 
in  France.  In  any  case,  it  is  most  unlikely  that  Possevin 
had  any  share  in  these  secret  counsels.  He  was  a  new 
man,  hardly  known  to  the  court  in  1565.  He  discussed 
the  affairs  of  his  Society  with  the  Spanish  Queen,  and 
revealed  to  her  the  smuggling  of  Protestant  books  into 
her  country  ;  and  he  returned  to  Paris  with  letters,  com- 
mending the  suit  of  the  Paris  college,  from  Catherine, 
Charles,  and  the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon. 

When  the  President  of  the  Parlement  found  these 
weighty  and  irregular  documents  thrown  into  the  scale, 
he  temporised.  The  suit  was  suspended  ;  the  Jesuits 
were  provisionally  allowed  to  teach.  In  the  following 
year,  however,  the  University  appealed  to  the  Constable 
of  France,  complaining  that  the  professors  were  unable 
to  keep  discipline,  as  a  pupil  went  to  the  Jesuits  the 
moment  he  was  reprimanded.  Then  two  singular  dis- 
coveries were  made  by  the  Jesuits,  and  they  had  the 
effect  of  disarming  many  of  their  patriotic  opponents. 
In    1567,   Father    Oliver    Manares,   the    Provincial,   in- 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  89 

formed  the  court  and  the  civic  authorities  of  Paris  that 
the  Huguenots  had  concerted  a  plot  to  sack  and  burn 
the  city  ;  he  had  learned  it  from  a  Polish  noble,  who 
was  visitinor  Paris  and  had  been  warned  to  leave  in 
time/  Paris  flew  to  arms  and  scared  the  supposed 
plotters ;  it  was  also  grateful  to  feather  Manares,  and 
incensed  against  the  Huguenots.  In  the  same  year, 
Father  Augfer  was  fortunate  enough  to  discover  a 
similar  plot  at  Lyons.  There  is  evidence  of  a  conspiracy 
at  Lyons,  but  the  historian  must  regard  the  "discovery" 
of  Manares  with  grave  suspicion.  The  effect  of  the 
discoveries  was  that  the  grateful  King  at  once  ordered 
that  all  opposition  to  the  Jesuits  must  cease,  and  all 
legacies  to  the  Society  must  be  valid  in  law  ;  and  that 
the  Catholics  were  soon  ranged  against  the  Huguenots 
in  open  field.  The  ablest  of  the  Jesuits,  Auger  and 
Possevin,  ardently  stimulated  the  Catholics,  accompanied 
the  troops,  and  were  even  seen  in  the  thick  of  the 
battles. 

A  peace  was  arranged  in  1570,  to  the  disappointment 
of  the  Jesuits  ;  and  the  country  still  enjoyed  this  pre- 
carious peace  when  Alessandrini  and  Borgia  reached 
the  court,  at  Blois,  in  the  first  month  of  1572.  In 
regard  to  the  discussions  which  took  place  we  know 
only  that  France  declared  itself  unable  to  join  in  the 
crusade  against  the  Turk,  and  Charles's  sister,  Mary 
of  Valois,  was  promised  to  Henri  de  Beam  instead  of 
to  Sebastian  of  Spain,  as  the  Pope  wished.  Alessandrini 
and  Borgia  went  back  to  Rome,  to  announce  their  failure 
to  the  dying  Pope.  And  on  24th  August  of  that  year 
took  place  the  horrible  massacre  which  lays  an  eternal 
stain  on  the  memory  of  Catherine  de  Medici.  We  have, 
fortunately,  neither  to  linger  over  the  revolting  details 

^  It  will  appear  later  that  Manares  was  a  man  of  robust  conscience,  and 
later  incurred  the  censure  of  his  brethren  for  improper  conduct. 


90  THE  JESUITS 

of  that  outrage,  nor  to  enter  the  larger  controversy  as 
to  the  responsibility  for  it.^  The  general  feeling  of 
historians  is  that  the  massacre  was  deliberately  planned 
by  Catherine  ;  and,  since  the  Jesuits  had  influence  with 
Catherine,  we  have  to  consider  whether  they  may  have 
been  implicated  in  the  barbaric  slaughter. 

Since  General  Borgia  conferred  with  her  at  Blois 
some  months  before  the  massacre,  it  has  been  thought 
by  many  that  he  was  initiated.  A  careful  consideration 
of  the  character  of  Borgia  disposes  one  to  acquit  him 
confidently  of  this  suspicion  ;  it  seems  incredible  that 
he  should  approve,  or  that  Catherine  should  expect 
him  to  approve,  so  inhuman  a  measure.  It  is  a  common 
mistake  to  suppose  that  there  was  a  fixed  type  of  Jesuit, 
and  that  almost  any  member  of  the  Society  may  be 
regarded  as  a  man  who  would  sanction  criminal  means 
for  the  attainment  of  a  good  end.  Our  narrative  has 
already  shown  us  that  Jesuits  differed  considerably  in 
character,  and  that  individual  features  were  not,  as  is 
sometimes  thought,  obliterated  by  the  impression  of 
a  corporate  stamp.  Borgia  was  cruel  only  to  himself, 
and  he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  much  of  a  casuist. 

The  real  question  is  how  far  such  men  as  Auger, 
Possevin,  and  Manares  were  responsible  for  that  general 
mood  and  temper  of  Catherine  which  culminated  in  the 
Bartholomew  massacre.  It  does  not  seem  probable  that 
any  of  them  were  actually  initiated  to  the  plot.  They 
were  not  the  keepers  of  the  royal  conscience  in  France 
at  that  time,  and  were  not  at  all  constantly  consulted 
by  Catherine.      But  since  the  days  when,  at  and  after 

^  I  may  draw  attention  to  a  curious  illustration  of  the  difficulty  of  reaching 
a  verdict  on  the  St.  Bartholomew  massacre.  In  the  same  volume  of  the 
Cambridge  Modern  History  we  are  told  (p.  20)  that  "  Gregory  xni.  is 
said  to  have  expressed  dismay,"  and  (p.  285)  that  he  heard  the  news  with 
"  triumphant  acclamation."  There  is  surely  no  serious  doubt  that  the  second 
statement  is  correct. 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  91 

the  colloquy  at  Poissy,  Lainez  had  sternly  forbidden 
her  to  grant  an  elementary  freedom  of  worship  to  the 
Huguenots,  they  had  impelled  her  toward  that  harsh 
and  intolerant  policy  which  at  length  took  this  criminal 
form  in  her  diseased  mind.  Their  intellectual  campaign 
against  the  Huguenots  was  a  failure.  They  made  few 
converts  from  it,  and  they  urged  coercion  to  prevent 
it  from  spreading.  Then,  when  the  Huguenots  stirred 
under  this  unjust  treatment,  they  were  very  zealous  in 
warning  the  court  of  "  plots."  It  seems  to  me  a  grave 
circumstance  that  in  1567,  Father  Manares  "discovered" 
on  the  part  of  the  Huguenots  of  Paris  a  design  not 
unlike  that  which  the  Catholics  afterwards  perpetrated 
against  them  ;  it  is  probable  that  this  was  the  germ 
of  Catherine's  bloody  enterprise.  Whether  she  ever 
discussed  her  plan  with  any  of  the  leading  Jesuits  we 
have  no  evidence  whatever  to  determine.  At  a  later 
date,  when  their  house  is  raided  and  their  preachers  are 
bolder,  we  shall  find  the  Jesuits  of  Paris  expressly 
advocating  crime  in  the  interest  of  religion.  At  this 
stage  we  can  only  say  that  they  pressed  a  policy  of 
violence  and  injustice,  and  Catherine's  crime,  in  which 
they  acquiesced,  was  an  extreme  deduction  from  it. 

Simultaneously  with  the  trouble  in  France,  Alva  was 
engaged  in  "pacifying"  the  Netherlands.  Here  the 
Jesuits  had  miscalculated  the  strength  of  the  Catholics, 
and,  in  encouraging  the  policy  of  violent  repression, 
led  to  their  own  undoing.  Only  the  favour  of  princes 
had  secured  some  shelter  for  them  in  Belgium,  and 
their  houses  now  disappeared  in  the  flames  of  the  civil 
war.  Their  college  at  Douai  had  been  interdicted  by 
the  university  authorities  in  1567,  but  relieved  by  papal 
authority.  As  the  Spaniards  proceeded,  however,  in  the 
drastic  and  bloody  policy  which  the  Jesuits  were  known 
to  favour,  the  crowds  stormed  their  residences,  and  by 


92  THE  JESUITS 

1570  they  were  almost  driven  from  the  country.  They 
returned  in  the  wake  of  Alva,  but  there  was  bitter 
hostility  to  them,  and  they  were  generally  accused  of 
rebuilding  their  house  at  Antwerp  out  of  the  loot  of 
Flemish  towns.  Father  Sacchini  is  moved  to  lament 
the  perversity  of  men  who  could  entertain  such  a 
suspicion,  though,  as  their  sardonic  critic  Steinmetz 
observes,  "it  would  have  been  better  to  supply  the 
place  of  this  moral  maxim  by  stating  whence  the  funds 
were  obtained  for  building  or  beautifying  the  house  at 
Antwerp." 

When  we  pass  to  Germany  we  naturally  find  that 
the  Jesuits  are  apostles  of  toleration,  charity,  and  calm 
intellectual  discussion  of  differences  of  creed  in  the 
north,  fanatical  intolerantists  in  the  south,  and  advocates 
of  every  conceivable  compromise  between  the  two 
extremes  in  the  intervening  or  mixed  States.  Canisius 
still  maintained  his  great  work  and  his  austere  standard. 
Appointed  Legate  of  the  Pope  in  1565  he  traversed  the 
whole  of  Germany  on  foot,  and  strengthened  the  loyalty 
of  the  Catholic  rulers  to  the  Council  of  Trent.  In  the 
following  year  we  find  him,  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg, 
helping  to  unite  Protestants  and  Catholics  against  the 
Turk.  Many  new  colleges  were  founded  by  him,  in- 
cluding three  in  Poland,  before  the  death  of  Borgia. 
On  the  other  hand,  grave  reports  had  to  be  sent  to 
Rome  from  the  more  Catholic  and  prosperous  centres. 
The  University  of  Dillingen,  which  the  Jesuits  controlled, 
was  found  in  1567  to  be  permeated  with  heresy,  and  a 
rigorous  scrutiny  ended  in  some  of  the  Jesuits  (including 
an  English  refugee,  Edward  Thorn)  going  over  to  the 
Protestants.  In  1570  the  Jesuit  rector  of  Prague  College 
became  a  Protestant  and  married.  In  Bavaria  the  cry 
was  raised  that  they  mutilated  boys  in  their  colleges. 
A  most   extraordinary  trial   resulted   in   their  acquittal, 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  93 

but  there  was  a  deep  and  widespread  prejudice  against 
them.  In  the  same  year,  1565,  they  were  fiercely  assailed 
in  Austria.  Their  college  at  Vienna  was  raided  by  an 
angry  mob  ;  and  the  nobles,  who  had  been  convoked 
by  Maximilian,  refused  to  give  their  aid  in  the  campaign 
against  the  Turk  unless  the  Emperor  expelled  the 
Jesuits. 

In  Italy  the  chronicles  of  the  Society  tell  of  slow 
advance  chequered  by  fits  of  hostility.  By  the  year 
1567  the  Roman  college  had  more  than  a  thousand 
pupils,  but  the  provinces  were  beginning  to  murmur 
at  the  burden  of  supporting  this  establishment,  and 
the  next  congregation  would  restrict  its  growth.  In 
Genoa,  Siena,  and  other  cities,  the  fathers  struggled 
with  poverty ;  in  one  place  a  college  had  to  abandon 
the  struggle  and  die.  In  most  parts,  however,  the 
Society  flourished  and  adapted  its  work  to  the  cir- 
cumstances. At  Palermo  we  hear,  in  1567,  of  a  weird 
pageant,  known  as  "The  Triumph  of  Death,"  arranged 
by  the  Jesuits.  Sack-clothed  men  bearing  candles,  a 
huge  figure  of  Christ  in  a  coffin,  and  two  hundred 
flagellants,  stimulated  to  their  ghastly  exercise  by  a 
troop  of  choristers  dressed  as  hermits,  went  before  a 
car  containing  a  monstrous  skeleton,  higher  than  the 
roofs  of  the  houses,  with  a  mighty  scythe  in  its  hand. 
In  the  north  the  appeal  was  to  princes.  Borromeo 
still  favoured  the  Society  at  Milan,  while  at  Ferrara 
and  Florence  the  Jesuits  directed  the  consciences  of 
princesses.  The  daughters  of  the  Emperor  who  had 
married  the  Duke  of  Ferrara  and  Francis  de  Medici 
insisted  on  retaining  their  Jesuit  confessors ;  and,  when 
Borgia  would  refuse  permission,  the  confessors  them- 
selves pleaded  that  the  fair  ladies  could  not  possibly 
be  abandoned  to  strange  influences.  Borgia  reluctantly 
consented.      He    saw,   and    regretted,    that    one   of   the 


94  THE  JESUITS 

sternest  rules  of  the  Society  was  being  sacrificed  to 
expediency,  but  his  counsellors  seemed  to  have  over- 
ruled him.  Ignatius  had  sanctioned  the  first  royal 
confessor  :  now  there  were  four. 

From  his  survey  of  the  provinces,  in  which  he  saw 
much  to  distress  his  austere  feelings,  Borgia  returned, 
exhausted,  to  Rome.      He  died  a  few  weeks  afterwards 
(ist  October    1572),    and    Polanco,    one   of   the    ablest 
administrators   at    the    Roman    centre,    was    appointed 
Vicar-General.      He   fixed    the    election  for  April,  and 
in    the    early  spring   the    most   famous    officers  of   the 
army  began  to  come  in  from  their  remote  battlefields. 
Auger  was  occupied  in  so  congenial  a  task  in  France 
that  he  would    not   come    to    Rome ;    he  was  with  the 
Catholic     troops     besieging     the     Huguenots     in     La 
Rochelle.      But   there  was   an   impressive  gathering  of 
the  veterans  of  the  Society.     Salmeron  and  Bobadilla 
were  still  there  to  tell  the  story  of  their  humble  begin- 
ning on  the  flanks  of  Montmartre  thirty  years  before  ; 
Ribadeneira,    Miguel    de    Torres,    Canisius,    Possevin, 
Manares,   Leo    Henriquez,   Miron,    Polanco,   and   other 
fathers,   before  whom   kings  would  bow,   came  in  from 
the  frontiers  to  the  eternal  city,  as  the  commanders  of 
legions  had  done  before  them.     And   of   this    brilliant 
group    one    of    the    lowest    in    ability   and    distinction, 
Father  Everard  Mercurian,  was  chosen  to  be  General. 

The  new  Pope,  Gregory  xiii.,  had  intervened. 
"How  many  Spanish  Generals  have  you  had?"  he 
asked,  when  the  older  Jesuits  came  to  greet  him.  All 
three  had  been  Spaniards.  "  How  many  votes  have 
the  Spaniards  amongst  you  .'*  "  he  then  asked.  Quite 
enough  to  elect  a  Spaniard  once  more,  as  they  were 
bent  on  doing  ;  and  the  man  on  whom  they  had  fixed 
their  thouohts  was  the  ofifted  and  energetic  Polanco. 
But    Polanco  was    descended  from    converted    Jews,  a 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  95 

class  disliked  by  high-born  Spaniards,  and  Kings 
Philip  and  Sebastian  had  written  to  ask  the  Pope  to 
prevent  him  from  being  elected.  The  fathers  respect- 
fully protested  that  the  Pope,  who  was  Protector  of 
their  Society,  ought  not  to  coerce  their  decisions. 
"  Are  there  no  able  men  amongst  you  except 
Spaniards  ? "  he  went  on  ;  and  he  suggested  Everard 
Mercurian.  Gregory  knew  that  the  blind  obedience 
of  the  Jesuits  to  the  Pope  was  not  of  the  kind  which 
hastens  to  carry  out  the  slightest  wish  of  the  ruler,  and 
on  the  morning  of  the  election  he  sent  a  cardinal  to 
tell  them  that  they  must  not  elect  a  Spaniard.  They 
still  expostulated  ;  but  Gregory  insisted,  and  Mercurian, 
a  mild  and  mediocre  old  man,  was  made  General. 
Being  a  Belgian,  he  was  at  least  a  subject  of  Spain  ; 
and  he  was  sixty-eight  years  old. 

Then  the  conscript  fathers  assembled,  day  after 
day,  to  discuss  the  mass  of  secret  reports  from  every 
centre,  and  pass  those  instructive  decrees — forty-eight 
were  issued  on  this  occasion — which  tell  us  so  plainly 
the  decay  of  the  original  spirit.  Ignatius  had  taught 
them  to  seek  power  and  wealth  for  God  :  it  had  proved 
a  dangerous  lesson.  The  Congregation  dispersed  in 
June,  and  Mercurian  entered  upon  his  seven  years' 
generalship.  The  real  control  was  openly  entrusted 
to  Father  Palmio,  the  Italian  assistant,  until  Father 
Manares  ousted  him,  and  secured  the  chief  place  and 
the  hope  of  succession.  There  was,  at  this,  some 
unedifying  language ;  we  shall  see  presently  that 
Manares,  at  least,  undoubtedly  sought  the  generalship. 
But  the  various  provinces  were  now  under  the  command 
of  such  able  men  that  the  progress  of  the  Society  was 
not  retarded.  Let  us  glance  at  the  more  significant 
happenings  in  the  provinces,  and  then  sum  up  the  work 
of  the  Society  in  its  first  four  decades. 


96  THE  JESUITS 

In  the  case  of  Spain  we  need  note  only  that  the 
Pope's  interference  in  the  election  was  bitterly  resented, 
and  a  feeling  spread  among  the  fathers  which  we  shall 
find  breaking  into  the  most  singular  expression  under 
the  rule  of  Acquaviva.  In  spite  of  the  stern  design  of 
Ignatius  and  the  emphatic  rule  of  the  Society  that  the 
Jesuit  was  to  benumb  every  patriotic  fibre  in  his  heart, 
and  know  himself  only  as  a  citizen  of  the  city  of  God, 
the  Spaniards  cherished  their  national  pride  in  an 
alarming  degree.  Under  the  ambitious  and  masterful 
Philip  II.,  who  dreamed  of  world-empire  and  was 
willing  to  include  the  Jesuits  in  his  diplomatic  corps, 
they  prospered  and  were  the  most  important  body  in 
the  Society.  They  were  annoyed  that  the  generalship 
passed  out  of  their  hands,  and  they  began  to  meditate 
secession  from  the  Roman  authorities.  When  the  papal 
Nuncio  died  at  Madrid  in  1577  a  memoir  written  in  this 
sense  was  found  amongst  his  papers.  We  shall  see  later 
how  the  feeling  developed,  and  how  the  war  with  Rome 
brought  into  notice  the  degenerate  character  of  the 
Spanish  province. 

Italian  affairs  in  that  decade  are  chiefly  remarkable 
for  a  violent  quarrel  with  St.  Charles  Borromeo  at 
Milan.  He  had  continued  for  some  years  to  patronise 
and  employ  them.  Father  Adorno  remained  his  con- 
fessor;  and  in  1572  he  gave  them  the  Abbey  of  Braida 
for  a  college,  and  in  1573  entrusted  to  them  the  College 
of  Nobles  at  Milan.  They  were  already  in  charge  of 
the  seminary  of  the  diocese,  and  the  trouble  seems  to 
have  besfun  with  the  transfer  of  this  institution  to  the 
Oblates  (a  religious  body  founded  by  Charles)  in  1577. 
Cretineau-Joly  explains  that  the  Jesuits  were  now  con- 
trolling so  many  institutions  in  Milan  that  they  were 
overworked,  and  they  begged  to  be  relieved  of  the 
seminary.     He   appeals   to    Giussano,   the   saint's    bio- 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  97 

grapher;  but  Gi'ussano  merely  says  that  Charles  "gave 
the  seminary  to  the  Oblates,  with  the  consent  of'' the 
Jesuits,"  which  is  a  poHte  way  of  saying  that  they  were 
dismissed.  We  shall  see,  in  fact,  that  Charles  was 
convinced  that  the  Jesuits  were  in  a  lax  and  degenerate 
condition. 

In  the  following  year,  1578,  the  cardinal  quarrelled 
with  the  Governor  of  Milan,  and  the  Jesuits  divided  in 
allegiance.     Adorno  and  a  few  others  were   faithful  to 
Charles,  but  a  courtly  and  fashionable  Jesuit  preacher, 
who  was  appointed   to  preach   the   Lent,  attacked  and 
ridiculed  the  cardinal-archbishop  from  one  of  the  chief 
pulpits  of  his  own  city,   before  a  crowded  audience  of 
wealthy  Milanese.     This  preacher,  Mazzarino,  uncle  of 
the    famous    minister,   was   the  confessor  and   friend  of 
the  governor.     Charles  protested  against  the  unseemly 
attack,   but   the   Jesuit   provincial  appointed   Mazzarino 
again    to   preach    the    Lent    in   1579,  and    he  attacked 
Charles  more  virulently  than  ever.     All  the  less  austere 
ladies  of  Milan,  for  whom  he  made  smooth  the  paths 
of  rectitude,  flocked   to  his  chapel,  and    listened    with 
pleasure  to  his   ridicule  of  the  ascetic  prescriptions  of 
their  saintly  archbishop.     Charles  drew  the  attention  of 
the  Provincial  to  the  fact  that  Mazzarino  was  preaching 
moral  principles  of  scandalous  laxity,  and  his  attacks  on 
the  chief  clerical  authority  were  very  injurious.       The 
Provincial    would    not    chide    Mazzarino,    and    Charles 
appealed  to  the  General.     The  only  reply  of  the  General 
was,   at    the    request    of  a    certain    countess,    to    direct 
Mazzarino    to    preach    all    the    year   round.       Charles 
threatened  to  suspend  the  preacher,  and  he  was  defied 
from  the  pulpit ;    he  threatened  to  bring  his  principles 
to  the   notice  of  the    Inquisition,  and  the  Jesuits  sent 
a   courier    to    Rome    to    defend    their  preacher.     Then 
Charles  instructed   his   Roman  agent,  Spetiano,  to  lay 


98  THE  JESUITS 

the  case  before  the  papal  court,  and  Mazzarino  was 
recalled  by  his  General  and  suspended  from  preaching 
for  two  years  by  an  ecclesiastical  tribunal. 

This  quarrel  is  of  interest  for  two  reasons.      In  the 
first   place,  it   illustrates    the    value  of   Cretineau-Joly's 
history  of  the  Jesuits.     The  French  writer  ignores  the 
attack  in   1577,  and  says  that,  as    soon   as    Mazzarino 
began   to   misbehave,    "the   Milan  fathers  hastened   to 
disapprove  of   the  imprudent  orator,"  and  the  General 
recalled  him.      It  is,  of  course,   true  that  Charles's  con- 
fessor, Adorno,  "disapproved"  of  his  brother  Jesuit,  but 
the    Mazzarino    faction    retorted    that    he    was  jealous, 
because  Mazzarino  had  larger  audiences  for  his  sermons  ; 
and  Cr^tineau-Joly  suppresses  the  fact  that  the  Provincial, 
and  for  a  time  the  General,  defiantly  supported  Mazzarino. 
We  know  this  from  Barromeo's  letters  to  his  agent.^     The 
further  interest  of  the  quarrel,  which    is    entirely  sup- 
pressed by  the  French  historian,  is  that  in  these  letters 
Charles  passes  very  severe  strictures  on  the  Jesuits  as 
a  body.      Instead  of  finding  fault  with   one   man   only, 
Mazzarino,    he    found    fault    with    all    except    one,    his 
confessor,  to  whom  he  remained  attached.      "  I  confess," 
he  writes  to  Spetiano,  "  that  for  some  time  I  have  felt 
the  Society  to  be  in  grave  danger  of  decadence  unless  a 
prompt  remedy  be  applied."     The  Jesuits,  he  explains, 
admit  clever  youths  without  regard  to  their  character, 
and   they   grant    extravagant   liberties   to   their  literary 
colleagues.     They    are    inflated    by    the   favour   of  the 
nobility    and     the     crowds    of    wealthy     women     who 
flock   to  lax  moralists  like    Mazzarino.     We   may  also 
recall  here    the   grave  statement    of  Charles's    nephew 
and    successor.    Archbishop    Frederic    Borromeo,    who 
was    educated    by  the    Jesuits:    a    statement    repeated, 

1  See  a  selection  in  the  Atinales  de  la  Sociiti  des  soi-disans  Jesuites 
(1764),  vol.  i.  pp.  132-159. 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  99 

In  the  most  solemn   terms,   by    a    writer    to    whom    he 
made  it. 

I  have  enlarged  on  this  quarrel  because  we  have 
here  the  rare  advantage  of  an  impartial  and  unimpeach- 
able witness,  and  we  see  how  serious  a  ground  there  is 
at  times,  when  independent  evidence  can  be  found,  for 
reading  Jesuit  and  pro- Jesuit  writers  with  caution.  We 
must  not,  however,  pass  to  the  opposite  extreme  and 
conclude  that  the  Italian  Jesuits  generally  were  the 
favourites  of  ladies  who  appreciated  indulgence  in  their 
confessors  and  preachers.  This  is  the  only  serious 
scandal  of  the  Italian  province  under  Mercurian. 

In  France,  as  in  Spain,  the  story  is  one  of  prepara- 
tion for  the  stirring  events  of  the  next  chapter.     The 
hostile  Archbishop  of  Paris  died,  and  Pierre  de  Gondi, 
who  succeeded  him,  was  an  Italian  of  the  Medici  suite, 
and  favourable  to  the  Jesuits.     Charles  ix.  gave  place 
to    Henry  11.,  and    the  new   king  chose  Auger  for   his 
confessor,  and  gave   the  Jesuits  everything  they  cared 
to    ask.      There  was   now   no    question    of  suppressino- 
their  name  and  privileges  in  France.     A  third  powerful 
patron  was  the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon,  who  obtained  for 
them  a  "house  of  the  professed"  at  Paris,  and  tried  to 
force  the  university  to  incorporate  their  college.     The 
Parlement  and    University    still    made    every    effort    to 
check    their    triumphant  advance,   but   they  now  beo-an 
to  send  pupils  of  their  own  to  graduate  in  the  university 
and  weaken  its  opposition.     Their  college  in  Lorraine 
was   erected   into  a   university,  and  royal  pupils  sat  at 
their   feet.     When    the    famous   Catholic    League    was 
formed  they  flung  themselves  into  its  work  with  great 
ardour,  and  we  shall  see  the  terrible  issue  in  the  next 
chapter. 

Two   incidents   in   the  permanent  quarrel   with    the 
Paris  University  should  be  noticed.     One  of  the  Jesuits, 


100  THE  JESUITS 

Maldonat,  shocked  the  professors  of  the  Sorbonne  by 
teaching  that  the  immaculate  conception  of  Mary  was 
a  matte^r  of  free  opinion/  and  Rome  upheld  the  Jesuit. 
More  interesting  is  a  memoir  which  the  doctors  of  the 
Sorbonne  submitted  to  the  papal  court  when,  in  1575, 
Cardinal  de  Bourbon  was  trying  to  secure  the  incor- 
poration of  the  Jesuit  college.  Amongst  heavy  charges 
of  avarice  and  of  seizing  the  property  of  other  religious 
bodies,  we  find  the  quaint  accusation  that  the  Jesuits 
taught'  that  souls  were  delivered  from  purgatory  after 
ten  years  of  suffering.  The  point  seems  academic  to  the 
layman,  and  very  consoling  to  the  faithful.  What  it 
really  meant,  in  practice,  was  that  the  Jesuits  claimed 
that  they  might,  after  ten  years,  divert  to  other  purposes 
the  large  funds  bequeathed  to  them  to  say  masses  for 

the  dead. 

In  Belgium  the  record  was  still  one  of  trouble  and 
vicissitude.''  They  had,  when  Alva  had  "pacified"  the 
province,  opened  a  number  of  houses,  which  the  towns- 
folk (as  at  Antwerp  and  Liege)  threatened  to  burn. 
Then,  when  Don  John,  Philip's  half-brother,  was 
defeated  in  1578,  the  Jesuits  refused  to  take  the  oath 
imposed  by  the  States  and  were  expelled  from  Antwerp 
and  other  centres.  They  began  to  recover  to  some 
extent  under  the  Duke  of  Parma,  but  had  to  witness  the 
secession  of  the  northern  provinces  and  the  formation 
of  a  new  Protestant  power,  Holland,  which  was  destined 
to  give  them  trouble.  At  Lou  vain  they  maintained  a 
struggle  with  the  university  similar  to  that  at  Paris. 
The'y'at  last  tripped  up  the  celebrated  Michel  de  Bay 
(Baius),  rector  of  the  university,  and  sent  their  brilliant 
young  theologian,  Bellarmine,  who  was  then  only  thirty 
years'' old,  to  enter  into  a  prolonged  duel  with  him. 
When,  at  last,  they  induced   Rome   to   take  a  serious 

1  It  did  not  become  a  dogma  of  the  Church  until  1854. 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  loi 

view  of  the  errors  of  Baius,  and  Father  Toledo  was  sent 
by  the  Pope  to  secure  his  submission,  they  began  to  rise 
from  the  lowly  position  in  which  the  university  had 
kept  them. 

The   Catholics   of  Austria  and    Southern   Germany 
continued  to  oppose  and  intimidate  them  in  spite  of  the 
devoted    exertions    of    Canisius.       They   were    fiercely 
assailed  at  Gratz,  Prague,  Innspriick,  and  Vienna.     The 
Emperor  Maximilian  was  even  induced  to  forbid  their 
Vienna  college  to  grant  degrees  or  compete  in  lectures 
with    the    university,  though   the  Jesuits  soon   got   the 
restriction   removed.      It  appears  that   they  announced 
lectures  on  the  same  subjects  and   at  the  same  hours 
as    those   of  the   university,    and,    as    always,    charged 
no  fees.     This  was  one  of  the  chief  grievances  of  the 
universities,  especially  as  the  Jesuits  palpably  trusted  to 
obtain  control  of  the  universities  themselves.     Another 
grievance,  which  we  have  noticed  in  the  Parisian  indict- 
ment,  is  that  they  somehow   acquired  the  property  of 
older  religious  orders.     One  of  many  instances  of  this 
occurs  in  the  present  period.     They  opened  a  college 
at    Freiburg,   and  were    invited  to  work  in    the   Swiss 
cantons.      For  the  beginning  of  their  mission  the  Pope 
assigned  them  the  revenues  of  the  abbey  of  Marsens, 
and  Canisius  soon  had  a  centre  for  attacking  Calvinism 
in  Switzerland.     The  Polish  colleges  continued  to  flourish, 
as    we    shall    presently    realise,    under    King    Stephen 
Bathori. 

The  most  interesting  adventure  under  the  rule  of 
Mercurian  is  the  attempt  to  penetrate  Sweden.  The 
principles  of  the  Reformation  had  been  cordially  received 
in  Sweden,  and  it  seemed  to  King  John  iii.  that  peace 
could  be  secured  only  by  some  kind  of  compromise 
between  the  old  faith  and  the  new.  John  was,  however, 
married  to  the  sister  of  the  Queen  of  Poland,  and  the 


102  THE  JESUITS 

Jesuits,  who  were  sternly  forbidden  to  enter  the  kingdom, 
saw  in  this  a  means  of  outwitting  the  vigilant  Protestants. 
The  combination  of  women  and  Jesuits  was  the  supreme 
agency  in  checking  the  progress  of  the  Reformation  in 
Europe. 

In  1574  an  envoy  came  to  Stockholm  to  convey  the 
compliments  of  Anne  of  Poland  to  her  sister  Catherine. 
One  could  not  close  the  gates  against  an  envoy,  though 
it  was  known  that  the  fine  clothes  of  the  ambassador 
were  a  thin  disguise  of  the  Polish  Jesuit  Father 
Warsevicz,  and  the  secret  instructions  of  the  envoy  were 
to  correct  the  liberalism  of  John  and  offer  him  an  alliance 
with  Spain.  John  knew  theology  and  wrangled  with  the 
envoy  for  a  week  in  the  palace.  The  mission  was 
fruitless,  and  in  1576  John  was  persuaded  to  countenance 
an  even  more  romantic  adventure.  A  young  Norwegian 
presented  himself  to  the  Protestant  clergy  of  Stockholm, 
and  said  that,  having  spent  some  years  at  southern 
universities,  he  would  like  a  place  as  professor  in  the 
new  college  they  were  forming.  He  begged  that  they 
would  recommend  him  to  the  king,  and  they  did,  so  that 
he  secured  the  appointment.  It  was  the  Jesuit  Father 
Nicolai,  who  had,  as  John  knew,  been  sent  from  Rome 
with  instructions  to  perpetrate  this  amazing  fraud. 
Nicolai  must  certainly  have  lied  to  the  Protestant 
authorities  about  his  beliefs,  in  order  to  obtain  a  place 
as  teacher  of  theology  in  a  Protestant  college.  When  we 
reflect  that  he  acted  on  instructions  from  Rome,  and  that 
no  Jesuit  or  pro-Jesuit  writer  seems  to  see  anything 
reprehensible  in  his  conduct,  we  feel  that  Jesuit  diplomacy 
had  already  reached  a  stage  which  it  would  be  impolite 
to  characterise  in  plain  English. 

Nicolai  seems  to  have  held  his  chair  of  Lutheran 
theology  for  a  considerable  time.  There  were  those 
who    scented    heresy    in    his    lectures,    but    they    were 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  103 

promptly  expelled,  and  Nicolai  even  became  rector  of  the 
college.  One  would  give  much  to  have  to-day  a  copy  of 
the  Lutheran-Jesuit's  lectures.  The  masterful  Possevin 
was  next  dispatched,  in  the  quality  of  Legate,  with  the 
Irish  Jesuit,  William  Good,  for  companion.  He  was  to 
prevent  a  union  of  Sweden  and  Holland,  and  to  correct 
the  king's  errors.  Possevin  went  first  to  Prague,  where 
he  induced  the  widow  of  Maximilian  to  name  him  her 
ambassador  to  Sweden,  and  then,  dressed  for  the  part, 
with  a  sword  dangling  at  his  side,  he  boldly  entered 
Stockholm,  where  Professor  Nicolai  was  still  teaching- 
Lutheran  theology  in  his  subtle  way.  The  counter- 
Reformation  had  different  methods  from  those  of 
Luther.  John  was  willing  to  return  to  the  faith  and 
enter  the  Spanish  alliance,  if  Rome  would  grant  the 
marriage  of  priests,  the  mass  in  Swedish,  and  other 
claims  of  the  Reformers.  Possevin  hastened  to  Rome, 
leaving  his  sword  by  the  way,  and  stormily  pressed  the 
commission  of  cardinals  to  grant  these  concessions.  It 
is  (apart  from  certain  remarkable  indulgences  later  on  the 
foreign  missions)  the  only  occasion  on  which  a  Jesuit 
pleaded  for  compromise,  but  Possevin  was  ambitious, 
trailing  to  obtain  the  concessions,  Possevin  hurried  to 
the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  the  Emperor,  and  the  King  of 
Poland,  in  order  that  he  might  at  least  be  able  to  offer 
to  John  the  material  alliances  he  had  promised  him,  if  he 
would  break  with  England  and  Holland.  But  he  had 
little  to  offer,  and  the  Protestants  were  now  alarmed  ; 
and  Possevin,  Good,  Warsevicz,  and  Professor  Nicolai 
were  politely  ushered  from  the  country. 

Of  the  foreiorn  missions  which  will  enCTaofe  us  more 
fully  when  the  Jesuits  are  firmly  established,  a  few  words 
must  suffice.  In  India  the  use  of  the  civil  power  to 
support  their  preaching  continued  to  augment  the 
number,  and  restrain  the  quality,  of  the  converts.     The 


I04  THE  JESUITS 

Japanese  mission  made  slow  progress,  and  was  extin- 
guished in  some  of  the  large  towns.  The  gates  of  China 
were  politely  opened  to  admit  a  Portuguese  legation 
(containing  disguised  Jesuits),  but,  after  an  interview  at 
Canton,  politely  closed  again  by  the  wary  mandarins. 
The  settlement  in  Brazil  was  deeply  injured  by  the  diseases 
which  European  Christians  brought  to  South  America, 
terrifying  the  natives ;  and  a  serious  loss  was  sustained 
in  1570,  when  a  ship  conveying  forty  Jesuits  to  Brazil 
was  captured  by  "  Huguenot  pirates."  They  were  all 
slain.  Florida,  Mexico,  and  Peru  were  visited  for  the 
first  time  in  this  decade,  and  a  few  fathers  laid  the 
foundations  of  new  missions.  On  the  whole,  the 
missionary  record  under  Borgia  and  Mercurian  does  not 
fulfil  the  earlier  promise. 

Mercurian  died  in  the  summer  of  1580,  just  forty  years 
after  the   establishment   of  the    Society.     Assuredly    a 
remarkable    advance    had     been     made    in    those    four 
decades.     The  ten  Jesuits  had  become  a  formidable  army 
of  5000  j-^m  (including  novices  and  lay-brothers),  fighting 
heresy  in  the  boudoirs  of  queens  and  the  market-places 
of  Germany,  educating  hundreds  of  thousands  of  youths, 
all    over    Europe,  in    a   fanatical    zeal    for  the   papacy, 
extending  its  influence  through  the  laity  by  means  of 
sodalities     and     confraternities,     pouring     out    a     vast 
literature,  from  the  blistering  pamphlet  to  the  ponderous 
folio  volume,  relating  to  the  great  religious  controversy, 
wearing  the  garb  of  the  beggar  or  the  silk  of  the  noble 
as  occasion  needed,  speaking  a  hundred  tongues,  and 
sending  scores  of  men  yearly  to  lands  whence  they  would 
never  return  and  where  fever  or  the  axe  awaited  them. 
They  were   the  backbone    of  the  counter-Reformation, 
formidable  alike  by  the  simple  and  austere  devotion  of 
some,  the  brilliance  and  learning  of  others,  and  the  un- 
scrupulousness  of  yet  others  in  the  service  of  the  Church. 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  BORGIA  105 

And  every  man,  and  every  movement  of  every  man,  was 
registered  in  that  central  bureau  at  Rome,  where  four 
sagacious  heads  directed  the  strategy  and  tactics  of  this 
planet-scattered  regiment. 

Our   survey   of  the   growth  and   evolutions  of  this 
spiritual  army  warns  us  to  avoid  generalisations.      It  is 
not  true  that  from  the  start  the  Jesuits  were  avaricious, 
ambitious,  and  unscrupulous  :    it  is    not  true    that    they 
maintained  their  spirit  untainted  for  half  a  century,  and 
then  degenerated.     No  epithet  will  apply  to  them  as  a 
body,    except   that   they  differed,  corporately,    from    all 
other  religious  bodies  in  the  diplomatic  nature  of  their 
action.     Every  variety  of  man  was  found  in  their  ranks  : 
the  austere  flagellant  and  the  genial  courtier,  the  man 
who  served  the  poor  because  they  were  poor,  'and  the 
man  who  served  them  in  order  to  edify  the  rich  ;  the  man 
who  flung  himself  with  a  smile  into  the  arms  of  death, 
and  the  man  who  loved  disouises  and  the  adventurous 
evasion  of  death,  the  saint  and  the  sinner,  the  peasant, 
the  noble,  and  the  scholar.     No  uniform  stamp  effaced 
their   individual    characters.     The  weak   or   sensual   or 
casuistic    degenerated    in    the  first    decade :    the   strong 
maintained  their  idealism  to  the  last.     But  that  original 
tendency  to  consecrate  worldly  devices   to  a  high  end, 
to    rerard    the    effectiveness    rather    than    the    intrinsic 
propriety  of  means,  to  seek  wealth  and  power  because 
they  procured  speedier  success,  was  running  its  inevitable 
course,  and  from  the   recommendation  of  lying    in    the 
cause  of  Christ  we  shall  soon  see  some  of  them  go  on  to 
the  condonation  of  vice  and  the  counsel  of  crime. 


CHAPTER   V 

PROGRESS   AND   DECAY   UNDER  ACQUAVIVA 

The  older  of  the  fathers  who  obeyed  the  summons  to  a 
new  election,  and  converged  upon  the  Eternal  City, 
m.ust  have  wondered  whether  it  would  pass  without  a 
fresh  exhibition  of  the  very  human  passions  which  the 
occasion  so  frequently  revealed  amongst  them.  Father 
Oliver  Manares  had  been  appointed  Vicar-General,  and 
had  announced  the  election  for  the  spring  of  1581.  We 
remember  Manares  as  the  fortunate  discoverer  of 
Huguenot  plots  at  Paris,  and  then  as  successfully  ousting 
Father  Palmio  from  the  position  of  chief  assistant  to 
Mercurian.  He  had  made  his  way  to  the  steps  of  the 
throne,  and  the  more  religious  brethren  were  now 
startled  to  find  him  shamelessly  canvassing  for  votes, 
in  spite  of  the  stern  prohibition  in  their  Constitutions. 
Four  of  the  older  fathers  were  at  once  appointed  to 
investigate  the  charge  against  him.  Bobadilla,  impetu- 
ous and  masterful  still  in  his  old  age,  was  one  of  the 
four,  but  he  expressed  his  resentment  of  the  charge 
against  his  friend  so  strongly  before  the  inquiry  opened 
that  they  had,  with  great  difficulty,  to  remove  him  from 
the  commission  ;  and,  when  the  commissioners  found 
Manares  guilty,  he  made  very  sore  trouble  in  the  house. 
In  the  end  Manares  was  persuaded  to  forego  his  right 
of  nomination,  and  Father  Acquaviva  was  elected. 

Claude  Acquaviva  was  one  of  the  youngest  of  the 

electors.     Though  strenuous  work  had    already  begun 

106 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    107 

to  whiten  his  dark  southern  hair,  he  was  only  thirty- 
seven  years  old  ;  but  he  was  distinguished  for  his  high 
birth,  his  great  ability,  his  integrity,  and  a  happy  com- 
bination of  resolution  and  cold  equanimity  that  recalled 
Lainez.  He  was  a  son  of  the  Neopolitan  Duke  of  Atri, 
and  was  destined  to  rule  the  Society  during  thirty-four 
years  of  that  dangerous  period  when  its  desire  for  wealth 
and  power,  in  the  service  of  God,  led  it  into  the  dark 
ways  of  political  intrigue  and  the  accumulation  of  earthly 
treasure.  We  shall  now  find  the  seeds  of  decay  spread- 
ing over  larger  areas  and  germinating  rapidly.  We 
shall  witness  a  singular  eruption  of  the  worldly  spirit 
in  the  Spanish  peninsula,  and  the  development  of  the 
political  Jesuit  as  he  is  known  in  the  history  of  England, 
which  I  reserve  for  a  special  chapter,  and  of  France. 

The  first  few  years  of  the  generalship  of  Acquaviva 
were  peaceful.  A  friendly  Pope,  Gregory  xiii.,  occupied 
the  Roman  see,  and  the  Society  increased  in  numbers 
and  prestige.  The  Gesu,  the  famous  metropolitan 
church  of  the  Jesuits,  was  opened  by  the  Pope  in  1583  ; 
the  Gregorian  calendar  was  very  largely  framed  by  one 
of  their  members,  the  learned  Clavius  of  Bavaria.  But 
Gregory  died  in  1585,  and  Acquaviva  prepared  for  a 
struggle  with  the  papacy.  The  stern,  despotic  Sixtus 
V.  had  now  received  the  tiara,  and  all  Rome  expected 
him  to  clip  the  wings  of  the  soaring  Society.  Acquaviva 
thought  it  would  be  prudent  to  disarm  the  Pope  and 
disavow  the  thirst  for  power.  He  offered  to  resign 
control  of  the  Roman  seminary.  Sixtus  refused  the 
offer,  and  awaited  his  opportunity  ;  and  in  the  following 
year,  1586,  the  flash  and  roar  of  the  gathering  clouds  in 
Spain  led  him  to  intervene. 

The  Spanish  fathers  had,  as  I  said,  looked  upon  the 
generalship  almost  as  an  hereditary  right,  and  had 
resented  the  election  of  Mercurian  and  Acquaviva.     But 


io8  THE  JESUITS 

this  feeling  is  so  wholly  opposed  to  the  religious  ideal  of 
the  Society  that  we  at  once  suspect  a  serious  decay  of 
the  character  of  the  Spanish  Jesuits,  and  we  find  some 
remarkable  evidence  of  it.     The  official  history  of  the 
Society  in  Spain  does  not  attempt  to  conceal  that  under 
Borgia  and  Mercurian  there  had  been  widespread  decad- 
ence/ and   I  have  shown  how  this  was  due  to  material 
prosperity  and    the  lack  of  serious  work   and    heretical 
neighbours.     We  have,  however,  a    more   singular  and 
ample   account    of  this    decadence.       One  of  the  most 
brilliant  of  the   Spanish  Jesuits,    Mariana,    the   famous 
advocate  of  regicide,  was  moved  to  discredit  the  Roman 
authorities  by  showing    the  corruption  into  which  they 
had  allowed  his  own  province  to  fall,  and  his   Tratado 
del  Govierno  de  la  Conipania  de  Jesus  gives  us  a  very 
candid  picture  of  the  Spanish  houses.     The  work  was, 
naturally,  not  published   by  Mariana.       Like    so    many 
documents  in  the    Society,   it  was    intended  for  private 
circulation  in  manuscript,  but  it  was  found  amongst  his 
papers  by  a  bishop  whom  the  king  appointed  to  examine 
them,    and   the   only    ground    for   the   claim  of   certain 
Jesuits  that  it  is  partly  spurious  is  that  they  dislike  its 
revelations.     The  decrees  of  the  Society  itself  confirm 
the  substance  of  its  charges,  and  the  temper  and  spirit 
of  the  book  are  quite  in  keeping  with  its  Jesuit  author- 
ship. 

It  complains,  chiefly,  of  the  low  state  of  culture  and 
the  great  comfort  of  life  among  the  Spanish  fathers. 
Of  the  540  Jesuits  in  Spain  230  are  lay-brothers  :  a 
circumstance  that  must  be  borne  in  mind  when  we  read 
that  there  are  so  many  thousand  members  of  the  Society. 
The  lay-brother  is  merely  a  servant  of  the  priests,  and 
the  enormous  proportion  of  these  lay-brothers  in  Spain 

^  See  Father  Astrain's   Hisioria  de  la  Conipania  de  Jesus  en  Espana, 
vol.  ii.  chap,  iii.,  chap.  v.  and  elsewhere. 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    109 

means  that  the  fathers  own  large  farms  and  vineyards, 
sell  the  produce  in  the  markets  (as  we  learn  from  the 
decrees  of  the  Society),  and  live  cheerfully  on  the 
income.  Mariana  does  not  speak  openly  of  vice — a 
sufficient  proof  that  the  book  was  not  written,  even  in 
part,  by  an  anti-Jesuit — but  he  says  that  the  "enjoy- 
ments "  of  his  colleagues  are  "  excessive  and  scandalous." 
They  further  add  materially  to  their  incomes  by 
managing  the  affairs  of  their  penitents  ;  in  Valladolid 
alone  there  are  twelve  of  these  steward  chaplains.  They 
dress  in  expensive  cloth,  travel  in  carriages  or  on  mules, 
and  overrun  their  ample  incomes.  The  whole  province 
is  loaded  with  debt,  yet  at  Marianas  own  house  at 
Toledo  the  expenditure  per  head  is  about  ;^5o  a  year : 
a  very  comfortable  sum  for  the  time  and  place,  for  a 
community  pledged  to  poverty.  Discipline  is  thwarted 
by  favouritism  and  flattery,  and  the  constant  spying  and 
reporting  cause  bitter  quarrels  in  the  houses. 

This  grave  account  of  the  Spanish  province — sober 
and  convincing,  yet  grave  in  contrast  with  the  primitive 
life  and  the  high  profession — is  written  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  that  a  distant  authority  cannot 
maintain  discipline,  and  the  Spanish  Jesuits  must  have 
local  autonomy  and  less  despotic  rulers — home-rule  and 
democracy,  in  a  word.  This  is  the  note  of  the  re- 
markable struggle  which  now  opens  between  the 
Spaniards  and  the  Italians.  Acquaviva  wanted  to 
maintain  the  stern  Ignatian  ideal  of  destroying  nation- 
ality, and  to  keep  Jesuits  as  much  as  possible  away 
from  their  native  countries  ;  but  he  made  the  mistake  of 
removing  old  and  long-settled  fathers  and  substituting 
for  them  young  men  who  shared  his  own  ideas,  and,  in 
spite  of  his  ideal,  he  favoured  the  Italians. 

In  1586  one  of  the  chief  Spanish  malcontents,  Father 
Hernandez,  applied  to  Acquaviva  for  permission  to  quit 


no  THE  JESUITS 

the  Society.  When  Acquaviva  refused,  Hernandez 
gave  notice  to  the  Inquisition  that  the  General  would 
not  let  him  leave  the  Society  lest  he  should  betray  a 
certain  secret  which  the  Jesuits  were  hiding  from  the 
Inquisitors.  We  have  seen  how  little  the  Inquisitors 
and  leading  prelates  of  Spain  loved  the  Jesuits.  They 
at  once  forced  Hernandez  to  tell  the  secret.  One  of  the 
Jesuits,  it  seems,  had  seduced  a  lady-penitent — a  crime 
from  which  only  the  Inquisition  could  absolve — yet  the 
Provincial  Marcenius  had  absolved  him  and  transferred 
him  to  another  town.  A  great  sensation  was  caused 
when  the  Inquisitors  at  once  put  the  Provincial,  the 
Rector  of  Salamanca,  and  two  other  Jesuits,  in  their 
prison,  and  demanded  copies  of  the  Constitutions, 
Privileges,  and  other  documents  of  the  Society.  To 
the  delight  of  Spain  and  the  dismay  of  Acquaviva,  they 
were  going  to  make  a  general  inquiry  into  the  character 
and  life  of  this  semi-secret  Society. 

Acquaviva  adroitly  suggested  to  the  Pope  that  this 
was  one  of  those  occasions,  which  he  loved,  of  asserting 
his  supreme  authority,  and  set  Sixtus  and  the  Spaniards 
at  loggerheads.  The  Pope  instructed  his  Nuncio  at 
Madrid  to  intervene,  and  Acquaviva  sent  a  Jesuit  to 
win  Philip  ii.  Philip,  however,  was  quite  willing  to  see 
the  Society  reformed,  and  the  Inquisitors  went  on  to 
arrest  other  Jesuits  and  demand  further  documents. 
The  insurgent  Spaniards  were  now  openly  demanding 
that  they  should  have  a  local  commissary,  independent 
of  Acquivava,  and  the  General  was,  as  quickly  as 
possible,  removing  fathers  from  Spain  and  filling  their 
places  with  foreigners.  The  Inquisition  decreed  that 
no  Jesuit  was  to  leave  Spain.  Nothing  so  fiercely 
awakened  the  energy  of  Sixtus  v.  as  a  quarrel  with  local 
prelates,  and  he  now  angrily  threatened  to  depose  the 
cardinal  at  the  head  of  the  Inquisition  if  the  whole  case 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACOUAVIVA    in 

were  not  at  once  remitted  to  him.  So  the  Jesuits  were 
released  and  the  documents  sent  to  Rome,  in  1588. 
We,  of  course,  hear  no  more  of  the  wicked  confessor 
from  that  time,  but  Acquaviva  had  not  counted  on  this 
scrutiny  of  the  documents  of  the  Society  by  the  keen 
eye  of  Sixtus  v.,  and  he  dreaded  the  outcome,  "Com- 
pany of  Jesus ! "  Sixtus  used  to  mutter,  as  he 
meditatively  stroked  his  long  white  beard  ;  "  Who  are 
these  men  whom  we  must  not  name  without  bowing 
our  heads  ?"^  He  at  once  issued  two  preliminary 
decrees.  The  first  forbade  the  Jesuits  to  receive 
illegitimate  sons  ;  their  own  rule  forbade  this,  and  the 
decree  only  confirms  the  charge  that  the  Jesuits  looked 
mainly  to  wealth  or  ability  in  admitting  novices.  The 
second  decree  reserved  to  the  general  or  to  a  provincial 
congregation  the  right  to  admit  novices.  Acquaviva 
opposed  this,  and  it  was  modified — and  would  die  at 
the  death  of  Sixtus  v. 

Meanwhile  the  struggle  was  renewed  in  Spain. 
One  of  the  French  Jesuits  whom  Acquaviva  had  put  in 
place  of  a  rebel  proved  worse  than  his  predecessor.  He 
asked  the  opinion  of  the  Inquisition  on  a  letter  written 
by  Ignatius  himself  on  obedience,  and  it  was  promptly 
condemned.  Acquaviva  again  had  the  case  transferred 
and  re-tried  at  Rome,  and,  although  Sixtus  spoke  some 
plain  unofficial  language  about  the  letter,  the  Roman 
Inquisition  absolved  it,  and  the  audacious  Father 
Vincent  ended  in  a  papal  prison  for  going  on  to 
question  the  Pope's  authority.  At  the  same  time  an 
imprudent  step  on  the  part  of  the  Society's  critics 
united  the  Spanish  Jesuits  with  their  General  and  put  an 
end  for  a  time  to  the  struggle.  The  King  appointed 
a  bishop  to  inquire  into  the  state   of  all   the   religious 

^  It  was,  and  still  is  in  Catholic  countries,  a  custom  to  incline  the  head 
at  the  mention  of  the  name  Jesus. 


112  THE  JESUITS 

orders  in  Spain  and  deal  with  their  irregularities. 
Neither  the  local  Jesuits  nor  the  General  wanted  a 
"  royal  visitator "  peeping  into  their  wine-cellars,  and 
Acquaviva  again  appealed  to  the  Pope  :  not  forgetting 
to  remind  Sixtus,  who  supremely  abhorred  clerical 
"bastards,"  that  this  Bishop  of  Carthagena  fell  into 
that  category.  At  the  same  time  he  sent  to  Madrid  the 
English  Jesuit,  Father  Parsons,  who  was  then,  as  we 
shall  see,  helping  Philip  to  annex  England  to  the 
Spanish  crown.  He  was  allowed  to  choose  his  own 
"visitator,"  and  the  Spanish  fathers  were  sufficiently 
absorbed  in  this  new  infliction  for  the  next  year  or 
two. 

Sixtus    had    meantime    brooded    over    the    singular 
mass  of  Jesuit  documents  submitted  to  him,  and  in  1590 
he  intimated  that  he  was  going  to  make  a  drastic  and 
comprehensive  reform.     The  name  of  the  Society  must 
be  changed ;  the  date  of  taking  the  vows  and  the  classi- 
fication of  the  members  of  the  Society  must  be  altered  ; 
the  regulations  in  regard  to  "  fraternal  correction  "  (the 
euphemism    in    the    Jesuit    rules    for    spying   and    tale- 
bearing)   and    obedience    must    be    modified ;    and   the 
directions  which    virtually   compelled    novices  to  leave 
their  property  to  the  Society,  while  nominally  advising 
them    to    leave    it    to    the    poor,    must    be   abolished. 
Acquaviva  entered  upon  this  desperate  struggle — there 
never  was  the  slightest  question  of  Jesuits  yielding  to 
Popes   on    any    point  —  with    that    cold    and    dogged 
resolution  which  alone    could    thwart   the    fiery  energy 
of   Sixtus    v.      At    first    he    tried    long   and    respectful 
argument  with  the  Pope,  and  induced  the  Emperor,  the 
King  of  Poland,  and  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  to  pray  that 
there  should  be  no  alteration    in    the   character  of  the 
Society.      Sixtus  smiled  grimly,  and  ordered  Cardinal 
Caraffa  to  proceed  with  the  revision  of  their  Constitu- 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACOUAVIVA    113 

tions.  They  then  fastened  on  the  cardinal,  and  Sixtus 
was  infuriated  to  find  that  Caraffa  made  no  progress. 
He  knew  that  they  were  hoping  to  see  him  die  before 
he  could  formulate  his  reforms,  and  he  entrusted  the 
work  to  four  theologians,  whose  sentiments  he  knew. 
They  drew  up  a  formidable  indictment  of  the  Constitu- 
tions, but  it  had  to  pass  the  Sacred  College  —  and 
Acquaviva  took  care  that  it  did  not  pass. 

We  need  not  enter  into  all  the  details  of  this  fourth 
attempt  in  half  a  century  to  evade  the  most  positive  and 
sincere  commands  of  the  Pope.  It  was  a  race  with 
death,  and  the  most  determined  and  unscrupulous  efforts 
were  made  by  the  Jesuits  to  prevent  the  Pope  from 
reaching  his  goal  before  death  overtook  him.  Sixtus 
had  to  punish  one  Jesuit  for  making  a  very  pointed 
eulogy  of  Cardinal  Cajetan,  his  rival  and  enemy,  and  to 
arrest  another  for  regretting  in  public  that  they  had  not 
a  Gregory  on  the  throne  in  such  troubled  times.  The 
dying  despot  fiercely  concentrated  his  sinking  energy  on 
his  last  task.  When  Bellarmine's  new  book  De  Stimnii 
Pontificis  Potcstatc  appeared,  he  put  it  on  the  Index, 
although  he  liked  Bellarmine,  and  the  book  really 
magnified  the  papal  power  so  much  that  it  was  after- 
wards condemned  as  seditious  at  Paris.  As  the  cardinals 
still  thwarted  him,  he  sent  a  stern  personal  order  to 
Acquaviva  to  change  the  name  of  his  Society.  He  was 
not  far  from  death,  but  the  General  was  told  that  there 
could  be  no  more  shiftiness  ;  he  might,  however,  ask  for 
the  change  instead  of  having  it  imposed  on  him.  He 
signed  the  petition  and  the  Pope  drew  up  his  decree. 
He  died  before  he  could  publish  it. 

There  is  no  serious  ground  for  the  faint  rumour  that 

the  Jesuits  poisoned  Sixtus  v.      His  death  was  foreseen 

by   everybody,  and  the   Jesuits   knew   from   experience 

that  his  decree  would  die  with  him.     But  Roman  gossip 

8 


114  THE  JESUITS 

found  the  coincidence  too  romantic  to  let  it  pass. 
Acquaviva  had  ordered  a  novena  (nine  days  of  prayer) 
to  be  said  for  Sixtus  in  the  Jesuit  houses  when  his 
iUness  was  announced.  The  bell  was  ringing  for  Vespers 
on  the  ninth  day  when  the  aged  Pope  passed  away  ;  and 
for  many  a  year  afterwards  it  was  a  grim,  half-serious 
joke  of  the  Romans  to  wonder,  when  they  heard  the 
Jesuit  Vesper-bell,  whether  it  rang  out  the  life  of  another 
Pope. 

After  the  two- week  rule  of  Urban  vii.,  Gregory  xiv. 
came  to  the  throne  and  restored  the  tranquillity  of 
Acquaviva  and  his  colleagues.  The  title  of  their  Society 
was  solemnly  confirmed,  and  the  subsidies  of  their 
colleges  were  again  granted.  But  Gregory  had  a  brief 
reign,  his  successor  passed  even  more  quickly  from  the 
papal  throne,  and  at  the  beginning  of  1592  Clement  viii. 
succeeded  to  the  tiara.  It  was  generally  believed  that 
Clement  disliked  Acquaviva,  and  the  rebels  in  Spain 
returned  to  the  attack  upon  him.  Spain  and  Portugal, 
which  were  still  united  under  the  Spanish  crown,  were 
equally  united  in  the  opposition  to  the  Roman  authorities. 
During  the  years  of  friction  with  Sixtus  v.  the  Spanish 
fathers  Acosta  and  Carillo  and  the  Portuguese  fathers 
Goelho  and  Carvalho  had  maintained  and  led  the 
agitation  against  Acquaviva,  and  it  was  known  that  they 
had  the  support  of  abler  men  like  Mariana  and  the 
sympathy  of  the  most  distinguished  and  powerful  Jesuit 
at  Rome,  Toledo,  who  was  made  a  cardinal  by  Clement. 
Acquaviva  had  not  relaxed  in  his  measures  against  this 
powerful  coalition.  He  won  at  least  the  silence  of 
Toledo ;  he  flattered  and  tried  to  disarm  Acosta,  who 
was  too  great  a  favourite  of  Philip  to  be  punished  ;  he 
expelled  some  of  the  less  influential  leaders  from  the 
Society,  and  brought  others  to  Rome.  Now,  at  the 
last  moment,  the  accession  of  Clement  seemed  to  have 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    115 

wrested  the  victory  from  his  hands,  and  the  Spaniards 
took  courage. 

Acosta  rejected  the  General's  blandishments  and 
persuaded  Philip  to  send  him  to  Rome  with  a  request 
that  the  new  Pope  would  summon  a  General  Congrega- 
tion of  the  Society  and  remove  Acquaviva  from  Rome 
during  its  sittings.  There  was  at  the  time  a  quarrel 
between  the  Dukes  of  Parma  and  Mantua,  and  Clement 
gracefully  deputed  Acquaviva  to  go  to  the  north  and 
reconcile  them.  He  dare  not  refuse  the  insidious 
appointment,  but  he  left  behind  him  a  trusted  secretary, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  he  learned  that  Clement  was 
about  to  summon  a  General  Congregation,  to  which 
Acquaviva  was  strongly  opposed.  He  reported  that 
his  mission  was  futile  and  hopeless  ;  Clement,  still  grace- 
fully, advised  him  to  be  patient,  and  the  strong  man  had 
to  remain  inactive  in  the  north  while  the  Spaniards 
carried  their  point.  He  returned  to  find  Acosta  at 
Rome  and  a  General  Congregation — "for  the  purpose 
of  strengthening  the  Society  and  reducing  certain 
provinces  to  tranquillity " — announced  for  November. 
In  other  words,  it  was  to  be  a  trial  of  strength  between 
Acosta  and  Acquaviva,  between  Spain  and  Italy,  and 
each  party  prepared  strenuously  for  the  tug  of  war  ; 
while  Rome  frivolously  applauded  the  rival  children  of 
Ignatius  and  the  Pope  smilingly  blessed  the  arena. 

Just  at  that  time  Toledo  received  the  red  hat,  and 
the  Spaniards  begged  the  Pope  to  name  "a  cardinal" 
(Toledo)  to  preside  at  the  Congregation.  He  refused; 
but  Acquaviva  was  defeated  in  turn  when  he  tried  to 
expel  Acosta  from  the  professed  house  and  have  him 
excluded  from  the  forthcoming  Congregation.  Not  only 
Rome,  but  the  Jesuits  scattered  over  Europe,  now 
joined  in  the  feverish  struggle.  Memorials  praying  for 
the  reform  of  the    Society  and    the    restriction   of  the 


ii6  THE  JESUITS 

General's  power  began  to  reach  the  Pope  from  provincial 
Jesuits ;  counter-memorials  followed  from  the  partisans 
of  Acquaviva.  In  fine,  Acquaviva  triumphed,  with 
certain  concessions.  The  privileges  of  the  Society  which 
offended  the  Spanish  Inquisition  were  to  be  abandoned 
in  the  Peninsula ;  and  Acquaviva  was  to  change  his 
Assistants,  and  hold  a  Congregation,  every  six  years 
(a  command  which,  of  course,  "died  with  the  Pope"). 
There  was  the  customary  review  of  the  state  of  the 
Society  and  passing  of  admirable  decrees,  and  the  fathers 
returned  to  their  provinces.  Acquaviva  then  made  a 
final  and  drastic  clearance  of  the  rebels,  and  many  were 
expelled.  They  were  still  powerful  enough  to  induce 
the  Pope  to  nominate  Acquaviva  archbishop  of  his  native 
city,  but  he  eluded  even  this  plot.  They  then  persuaded 
the  Pope  that  it  was  expedient  for  Acquaviva  to  visit 
Spain  and  see  the  province  with  his  own  eyes.  The 
General  clearly  believed,  and  it  is  probable  enough,  that 
something  like  incarceration  awaited  him  in  Spain,  and 
he  made  a  desperate  struggle  to  evade  the  Pope's  order. 
He  was  saved  by  the  death  of  the  Pope,  in  1605,  and 
for  several  years  afterwards  we  still  find  him  struggling 
with  the  rebellious  Spaniards. 

This  remarkable  conflict,  within  the  Society  and  with 
the  Pope,  which  I  take  chiefly  from  the  Jesuit  Jouvency, 
the  continuer  of  the  official  "  Historia  Societatis,"  well 
illustrates  how  dim  the  apostolic  fire  had  become  in  one 
of  the  largest  provinces  of  the  Society ;  how  its  flame 
was  choked  and  corrupted  by  material  prosperity. 
When  we  turn  to  France  and  to  England  we  have  an 
equally  valuable  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  the 
command  to  seek  power,  for  the  glory  of  God,  evolves 
what  is  known  as  the  political  Jesuit.  There  is  no 
intrinsic  reason  that  I  can  see  why  a  priest  should  not 
seek  political  influence  on  behalf  of  religious  interests. 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    117 

Assuredly  in  the  sixteenth  century  there  was  no  clean 
division  of  the  religious  and  political  spheres.  But  the 
complaint  against  the  Jesuits  is  that  their  authorities 
ostentatiously  forbid  political  action,  yet  permit  and 
encourage  their  subjects  secretly  to  pursue  it,  and  even 
in  ways  that  are  unworthy  of  religious  ideals  ;  that,  in 
short,  the  Jesuit  approaches  the  field  under  the  white 
flag  of  political  neutrality,  employs  weapons  which  are 
condemned  in  civilised  warfare,  and  then  denies  that  he 
interfered.  In  reviewing  forty  years  of  their  life  in 
France  we  have  an  excellent  opportunity  of  examining 
this  charge. 

When  we  last  turned  away  from  France,  the  Catholic 
League  was  just  beginning  to  arouse  passion  in  the 
country  and  the  Jesuits  were  taking  an  active  part  in  its 
work.  The  historical  situation  may  be  recalled  in  a  few 
words.  The  children  of  that  abominable  type  of  feminine 
politician,  Catherine  de  Medici,  were  perishing  in- 
gloriously.  Henry  iii.  still  feebly  occupied  the  throne, 
but  it  was  a  question  how  long  he  would,  under  the 
guidance  of  his  Jesuit  confessor  Auger,  continue  to 
entertain  Paris  with  his  alternatino-  fits  of  debauch  and 
melodramatic  penitence  ;  and  the  legitimate  heir  to  the 
throne  was  Henry  of  Navarre,  a  Protestant.  The 
Catholics  were  naturally  alarmed  and  formed  the  League 
to  "protect  their  interests";  its  specific  aim  was,  as 
every  man  in  France  knew,  to  secure  the  throne  for  the 
Catholic  Henry  of  Guise. 

Here  was  a  situation  entirely  to  the  taste  of  the 
more  ardent  and  adventurous  of  the  Jesuits,  and  (apart 
from  the  inevitable  few  who  favoured  Philip  of  Spain) 
they  marched  valiantly  under  the  banners  of  the  League, 
and  fluttered  about  the  Catholic  courts  of  Europe  in  the 
interest  of  Guise.  The  Provincial,  Claude  Matthieu, 
earned  the  name  of  the  "Courier  of  the  League"  from 


ii8  THE    JESUITS 

his  many  journeys  in  support  of  it.  Father  Henri 
Sammier  traversed  Italy  and  Spain,  and  penetrated 
Germany  and  England,  to  further  its  aim.  He  had  a 
large  wardrobe  of  disguises,  which  he  wore  with  the 
grace  of  an  actor,  and  he  is  said  by  the  contemporary 
lawyer  Pasquier  to  have  been  as  familiar  with  dice  and 
cards  as  with  his  breviary.  Edmund  Hay,  the  Scottish 
Jesuit  and  tender  champion  of  Mary  Stuart,  lent  his 
fervent  aid  to  the  cause.  Father  Auger,  however,  was 
not  an  ardent  Leaguer,  and  he  made  an  effort  to  silence 
his  younger  colleagues.  He  had  persuaded  Henry  in. 
to  join  the  League,  lest  the  League  should  not  be 
inclined  to  wait  for  the  young  king's  natural  death,  but 
he  rightly  distrusted  Guise.  It  must  not  be  supposed 
that  he  cherished  a  more  austere  standard  of  Jesuit  duty 
than  the  others,  since  his  royal  penitent  was  notorious 
for  his  licentious  conduct,  his  morbid  love  of  jewels  and 
of  feminine  clothes,  and  the  utter  degradation  of  his  real 
gifts.  The  fact  is  that  he  saw  political  rivals  in  Matthieu 
and  Sammier,  with  their  zeal  for  Guise,  and  Parsons  and 
others,  with  their  attachment  to  Philip  of  Spain.  He 
complained  to  Acquaviva,  and  the  General,  feeling  that 
such  political  work  should  not  be  done  openly  but 
through  laymen  controlled  by  the  Jesuits,  supported  him. 
After  a  prolonged  struggle  Acquaviva  deposed  Matthieu 
and  removed  him  to  Italy,  transferred  the  gifted  Sam- 
mier and  his  wardrobe  to  Belgium,  and  then  turned  on 
Auo^er  himself.  After  another  severe  strueale  he  dis- 
lodged  Auger  from  the  court.  Jesuits  are  sometimes 
very  lively  "corpses"  when  their  superiors  wish  to  move 
them. 

This,  however,  was  in  the  main  a  personal  quarrel. 
Odon  Pigenat,  the  new  Provincial,  and  a  score  of  other 
fathers  were  ardent  Leaguers.  The  Jesuit  house  at 
Paris   was    still    used    for    the    secret    meetinos    of  the 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    119 

League,  and  the  "Committee  of  Catholic  Safety"  was 
inspired  by  Pigenat.  The  French  apologist  does  not 
question  their  enthusiastic  share  in  the  League's  work, 
and  no  one  questions  that  the  aim  of  the  League  was 
to  prevent  the  accession  of  the  legitimate  heir  to  the 
throne.  Indeed,  at  the  next  dramatic  turn  of  French 
affairs  all  this  was  made  plain  to  everybody. 

In  1588  Guise  was  invited  to  Paris  and  acclaimed 
there  with  such  wild  rejoicing  that  Henry  in.  fled  to 
Blois,  and  shortly  afterwards  Guise  and  his  cardinal- 
brother  were  invited  to  Blois  and  foully  murdered  there 
by  Henry.  The  League  now  shook  its  banners  in  the 
breeze,  and  Plenry  was  execrated  from  a  hundred  pulpits. 
When  he  went  on  to  defy  the  Pope  and  form  an  alliance 
with  Henry  of  Navarre,  who  advanced  rapidly  on  Paris, 
Catholic  feeling  rose  to  a  fanatical  pitch,  and  Henry  iii. 
in  turn  was  assassinated  by  the  Dominican  monk 
Jacques  Clement.  The  Jesuits  were  assuredly  not  the 
only  preachers  to  applaud  this  murder,  but  they  were 
amongst  the  first  to  perceive,  and  the  loudest  to  declare, 
that  if  a  king  may  be  dispatched  by  private  hand  for  a 
crime,  he  may  certainly  be  removed  when  he  meditates 
the  far  graver  misdeed  of  plunging  a  nation  into  heresy. 
Father  Commolet,  the  superior  of  the  Jesuit  house  at 
Paris  and  a  distinguished  preacher,  called  from  his 
pulpit  for  "a  second  Ehud"  to  remove  Henry  of 
Navarre.  Father  Mariana,  who  shortly  afterwards 
wrote  his  famous  De  Rege,  hailed  the  assassin  as 
"the  eternal  glory  of  France"  and  spoke  of  this 
"memorable  spectacle,  calculated  to  teach  princes  that 
godless  enterprises  do  not  go  unpunished." 

It  has  been  said  on  behalf  of  the  Jesuits  that  even 
their  old  enemy  the  Sorbonne  joined  in  the  general 
rejoicing  over  the  assassination  of  Henry  in.,  but  those 
who  make  the  point  forget  or    ignore  that  for  several 


I20  THE  JESUITS 

years  past  the  Jesuits  had  been  sending  pupils  to  the 
university  in  order  gradually  to  permeate  its  faculties. 
It  was  no  longer  the  distinct  anti-Jesuit  body  which 
we  have  met  in  earlier  years.  Nor  is  there  any  need  to 
discuss  the  abstract  question  whether  the  Jesuits  taught 
tyrannicide.  Cretineau-Joly  himself  quotes  fourteen 
Jesuit  theologians  of  the  time  who  permitted  the  assas- 
sination of  kings,  to  say  nothing  of  more  or  less  obscure 
writers,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  the  politicians  of  the 
Society  were  not  more  scrupulous  than  their  theologians 
on  the  point.  The  well-known  work  of  Mariana  to 
which  I  have  referred,  De  Rege  et  Regis  Instittitione 
(1599)5  was  authorised  for  publication  by  the  Jesuit 
authorities,  and  it  was  not  until  the  assassination  of 
Henry  iv.  in  1610  that  Acquaviva,  anxious  to  save  the 
French  Jesuits  from  expulsion,  forbade  his  subjects  to 
teach  the  dangerous  doctrine.  Even  then  he  wrote  at 
first  to  the  French  Jesuits  alone,  and  it  was  only  when 
the  cry  of  indignation  was  echoed  in  other  countries 
that  he  made  the  order  o-eneral.  In  fine,  his  oreneral 
order  was  so  ambiguous  that  even  a  less  supple  politician 
than  a  Jesuit  could  find  his  way  through  it.  It  con- 
demned the  doctrine  that  "any  person,  on  any  pretext 
whatever,  may  kill  kings  and  princes  "  ;  which  leaves  it 
open  to  the  casuist  to  conclude  that  certain  persons  may 
do  it  for  cei'tain  reasons.^ 

Henry  of  Navarre  invested  Paris,  and  it  is  not 
questioned  that  the  Jesuits  were  amongst  the  most 
ardent  advocates  of  resistance  to  him.  In  the  later  trial 
before  Parlement,  which  we  shall  consider,  they  admitted 
that  the  crown-jewels  were  deposited  in  their  house 
during  the  siege,  and  that  the  chiefs  of  the  League  met 
there.  A  curious  incident  of  the  siege  is  worth  quoting. 
Food  became  painfully  scarce,  and  half-famished  citizens 

^  See  Count  Hoensbroech's  Fourteen  Years  a  Jesiiif  {\c)\\),  ii.  334. 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA  121 

struggled  over  the  possession  of  cats  and  rats,  but  the 
inmates  of  the  rehgious  houses  remained  sleek  and 
comfortable.  The  civic  authorities  ordered  an  inspec- 
tion of  their  houses,  and  it  is  admitted  by  their  apologist 
that  the  Jesuits  tried  to  obtain  exemption  from  this 
search.  When  the  authorities  insisted,  a  rich  store  of 
food  was  found  in  their  house.  Their  fervour  in  the 
popular  cause,  however,  was  enough  to  outweigh  this 
unpleasant  discovery,  and  they  continued  to  thunder 
against  the  heretic.  The  Duke  of  Mayenne  was  now 
the  Catholic  candidate  for  the  throne,  though  a  con- 
siderable number  of  the  Jesuits  now  looked  to  Philip  of 
Spain.  He  was  to  be,  as  in  England,  the  "protector 
of  the  faith  " — until  it  was  safe  for  him  to  annex  the 
country  to  his  swollen  dominions.  Sixtus  v.,  however, 
by  no  means  shared  this  Jesuit  and  Spanish  ideal  of 
making  Philip  the  head  of  a  vast  world-power,  and  he 
began  to  negotiate  with  Henry,  whose  forces  were 
gaining  ground.  Then  Sixtus  died,  and  the  accession 
of  a  pro-Spanish  Pope  gave  fresh  energy  to  the  League. 
But  Paris  was  weary  of  the  siege,  and,  when  Henry 
prudently  announced  that  he  was  about  to  make  a 
serious  study  of  the  evidences  for  the  Catholic  faith,  the 
opposition  collapsed.  The  Jesuits  were  amongst  the 
last  in  Paris  to  fan  the  dying  embers  of  the  League,  and 
when  at  length,  in  March  1594,  Henry  entered  Paris 
and  received  the  crown,  they  (with  the  Capuchins  and 
Carthusians)  refused  to  submit  until  the  Pope  had 
absolved  him. 

But  they  very  soon  parted  company  with  the  less 
nimble-witted  Capuchins  and  the  cloistered  Carthusians, 
and  the  next  page  of  their  story  in  France  is  not  without 
humour.  Henry's  politic  scrutiny  of  the  Catholic  creed 
had,  of  course,  led  to  his  "  conversion,"  but  the  Pope 
had    a    sufficient    decency    of    feeling    to    distrust    so 


122  THE  JESUITS 

opportune  and  profitable  a  change  of  creed,  and  he 
coldly  rebuffed  the  genial  monarch.  When  Henry  sent 
the  Duke  de  Nevers  to  Rome  to  plead  his  cause  with 
the  Pope,  Clement  ordered  the  Jesuit  Possevin  to 
intercept  him  in  Italy  and  say  that  the  Pope  refused 
to  see  him.  We  remember  Possevin  as  the  ingenious 
and  accommodating  Legate  to  the  Swedes,  and  we  shall 
see  other  proofs  of  his  diplomatic  ability.  With  an 
audacity  which  must  almost  be  without  parallel  in  the 
chronicle  of  papal  diplomacy  he  did  the  exact  opposite 
of  what  the  Pope  had  commanded  ;  he  encouraged  de 
Nevers  to  see  the  Pope,  and  then  fled  before  the  stormy 
anger  of  Clement  and  the  Spaniards.  It  was  the  first 
service  rendered  to  Henry  by  a  Jesuit,  and  was  quickly 
followed  by  other  useful  services.  They  had  perceived 
the  strength  of  Henry  and  reversed  their  policy.  The 
Jesuit-Cardinal  Toledo,  although  a  Spaniard,  intervened 
in  Henry's  favour,  and  the  head  of  the  Jesuit  house  at 
Paris,  Commolet — the  preacher  who  had  urged  the 
assassination  of  Henry — came  to  Rome  to  say  that  he 
and  his  colleagues  were  now  convinced  of  the  King's 
sincerity  and  begged  the  Pope  to  yield. 

This  change  of  front  was  opportune.  Although  the 
hostility  of  the  university  to  the  Jesuits  had  been 
enfeebled  by  the  penetration  of  Jesuit  pupils  into  the 
theological  faculty,  it  still,  as  a  body,  hated  the  Society, 
and  its  leaders  felt  that  they  might  take  some  advantage 
of  the  stubborn  resistance  to  Henry.  In  April  the 
university  begged  the  Parlement  to  expel  the  Jesuits 
from  the  kingdom.  Another  great  debate,  in  which  the 
anti-Jesuit  lawyers  of  Paris  battered  the  Society  and 
flung  at  it  all  the  charges  that  could  be  found  in  Europe, 
entertained  the  sympathetic  citizens.  Arnauld,  who 
was  now  in  the  field,  estimated  the  total  yearly  income 
of  the  Jesuits  at  more  than  two  million  livres ;  he  said 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER   ACQUAVIVA    123 

that  in  France  alone  they  had,  in  a  few  years,  secured 
an  income  of  two  hundred  thousand  livres  a  year,  and  he 
eloquently  denounced  their  interference  in  politics.  The 
Jesuits  made  the  remarkable  defence  that  they  had  only 
mingled  in  the  League  in  order  to  moderate  its  ardour, 
that  they  had  no  unpatriotic  attachment  to  Spain,  and 
that  they  would  scrupulously  avoid  politics  for  the  future. 
Henry  permitted  them  to  remain.  A  short  time  before 
(August  1593)  Barriere  had  attempted  to  assassinate 
him,  and,  as  Barriere  had  had  a  Jesuit  confessor,  it  was 
suggested  that  the  Jesuits  had  inspired  him,  Henry 
said  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  the  Jesuits  who  had 
warned  him  of  the  plot.  A  fuller  knowledge  of  this 
warning  would  be  extremely  interesting,  but  we  have  no 
evidence  of  it  beyond  Henry's  blunt  declaration  at  a  later 
date.  The  Jesuits  were  to  remain,  to  avoid  politics, 
and,  as  Henry  had  previously  decreed,  to  destroy  all 
literature  concerning  the  League  and  the  past  turbulence. 
On  27th  December  of  that  year,  1594,  Jean  Chastel 
attempted  to  assassinate  Henry,  and  a  furious  storm 
burst  upon  the  Jesuits.  Two  undisputed  facts  stand 
out  clearly  from  the  prolonged  controversy  that  followed 
this  attempt ;  Chastel  had  been  educated  at  the  Jesuit 
college  before  going  to  the  university  (he  was  nineteen 
years  old),  and  he  had  conferred  with  his  former 
professor.  Father  Gueret,  a  few  days  before  the  attempt. 
This  is  by  no  means  satisfactory  evidence  of  the 
complicity  of  the  Jesuits,  but  another  piece  of  evidence, 
of  a  very  inflammatory  nature,  was  put  before  the  court. 
The  authorities  had  raided  the  Jesuit  college  and  found 
in  the  rector's  room  a  quantity  of  the  League  literature 
which  Henry  had  rigorously  commanded  to  be  destroyed. 
In  particular,  there  were  papers  in  the  writing  of  the 
rector.  Father  Guignard,  which  cast  the  most  violent 
abuse  on  Henry  and  demanded  his  death.     They  had 


124  THE  JESUITS 

been  written  five  years  before,  but  the  retention  of  them 
was  considered  a  very  serious  sign  of  the  hidden  feeling 
of  the  Jesuits.  We  may  admit  that  the  court  still 
went  beyond  the  evidence  in  condemning  the  Jesuits, 
Guignard  was  executed,  Gueret  tortured,  and  all 
members  of  the  Society  were  ordered  to  quit  France 
within  three  days.  On  8th  January  thirty-seven  Jesuits 
set  out  sadly  for  Lorraine,  and  from  the  proceeds  of 
their  confiscated  property  a  large  stone  pyramid,  bearing 
the  sentence  against  the  "pernicious  sect,"  was  erected 
at  Paris. 

This  sudden  fall  from  their  proud  position  was  the 
price  of  political  action,  but  Henry  was  not  in  a  position, 
and  indeed  not  of  a  character,  to  sustain  the  sentence, 
and  the  Jesuits  at  once  began  to  struggle  for  recall. 
Within  ten  years  the  hated  pyramid  was  demolished, 
and  the  Jesuits  had  regained  their  prestige.  They  had 
never  entirely  quitted  France.  Some  put  off  their 
cassocks  and  became,  in  appearance,  "lay"  teachers  of 
the  young  ;  some  were  sheltered  by  the  local  Parlements. 
The  formal  reconciliation  of  Henry  with  the  Papacy 
followed,  and  the  Pope  urged  him  to  recall  the  Jesuits. 
He  pleaded  again  when  he  had  negotiated  for  Henry  a 
peace  with  Philip  of  Spain,  but  the  Parlement  stoutly 
maintained  its  decree,  and  Henry  advised  them  to  wait. 
Then  the  Pope  obliged  Henry  by  annulling  his  marriage, 
and  the  watchful  Acquaviva  stood  again  in  the  shadow 
of  the  papal  throne.  Father  Maggio  was  sent,  in  the 
suite  of  the  Archbishop  of  Aries,  to  win  the  King. 
They  knew  Henry,  and  shrewdly  chose  an  envoy  who 
could  adopt  the  broad  wit  which  Henry  loved  as  easily 
as  Possevin  or  Parsons  could  wear  a  sword,  or  Ricci  a 
pigtail.  "Sire,"  said  Maggio  to  the  bluff  King,  when 
the  affair  dragged,  "  you  are  slower  than  women,  for 
they  bear  their  fruit  only  nine  months."     "Quite  true, 


PROGRESS  AND  DFXAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    125 

Father  Maggio,"  said  Henry,  "but  kings  are  not 
delivered  as  easily  as  women."  It  was  the  way  to  win 
Henry  iv.,  and  he  was  won,  but  public  feeling  was  still 
too  hostile  to  the  Jesuits.  In  1603  their  opportunity 
came.  The  Huguenots  had  been  so  imprudent  as  to 
abuse  the  Pope,  and  the  Jesuits  must  be  restored  for  the 
Pope's  consolation  ;  also,  there  was  a  new  queen,  Marie 
de  Medici,  and  an  amiable  Father  Coton  winninof 
influence  over  her.  And  at  the  beginning  of  1604  the 
Parlement  sullenly  registered  the  decree  for  the  re- 
admission  of  the  Jesuits,  and  the  fathers  all  swore  a 
sonorous  oath  of  loyalty  to  the  King  "without  mental 
reservation,"  as  the  decree  ran  ;  no  other  body  of  men 
ever  needed  to  be  insulted  with  such  a  clause. 

The  remaining  years,  down  to  the  assassination  of 
Henry  in  16 10,  mark  the  rapid  recovery  of  the  Society. 
Father  Coton  was  royal  preacher  and  confessor,  and 
obtained  such  influence  that,  when  the  King  was  deaf  to 
their  prayers  or  protests,  men  said  that  Henry  "  had 
cotton  in  his  ears  "  ;  and  the  fusillade  of  pamphlets  and 
counter-pamphlets — witty,  fierce,  and  gross  on  both  sides 
— again  enlivened  Paris.  They  raised  more  houses  than 
they  had  ever  had  before,  and  got  admission  into 
Protestant  B^arn  and  the  Canadian  mission.  There 
was  hardly  a  more  generous  benefactor  to  the  Society 
in  Europe  than  Henry,  though  we  may  take  the  word 
of  Richelieu  that  he  distrusted  them,  as  a  body,  and 
acted  from  policy.  At  length  Henry  betrayed  the  real 
shallowness  of  their  influence  on  him,  and  began  to 
prepare  for  war  with  Spain  ;  and  on  14th  May  16 10 
he  fell  by  the  hand  of  a  Catholic  fanatic. 

The  question  whether  the  Jesuits  were  implicated  in 
the  crime  of  Ravaillac  is  one  of  the  hundred  almost 
insoluble  problems  of  their  history.  On  this  occasion, 
indeed,  it  is  exceptionally  difiicult  to  reach  a  confident 


126  THE  JESUITS 

verdict,  because  an  entirely  pro-Spanish  and  pro-Jesuit 
regime  was  set  up  by  the  death  of  Henry,  and  incon- 
venient testimony  could  easily  be  suppressed.  It  seems 
to  me  that  a  consideration  of  great  importance  is  gener- 
ally overlooked  in  the  discussion  of  these  problems. 
When  the  evidence  is  scanty  or  obscure,  we  give  the 
Jesuits  "  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,"  as  if  we  were  arraign- 
ing them  for  something  they  regarded  as  a  crime.  This 
is  a  false  attitude,  of  which  they  take  full  advantage. 
Crdtineau-Joly  quotes  a  dozen  distinguished  theologians 
of  the  time  who  taught  that  it  was  just  and  proper  to 
remove  a  monarch  whose  rule  was  gravely  injurious,  and 
hardly  a  single  eminent  theologian  who  taught  the 
contrary.  We  have  merely  to  suppose  that  the  Jesuit 
fathers  were  divided  in  anything  like  the  same  proportion, 
and  we  see  at  once  that  there  must  have  been^-and  we 
know  that  there  were — numbers  of  Jesuits  in  every  pro- 
vince who  would  regard  the  assassination  of  a  king  who 
threatened  the  faith  in  his  country  as  a  quite  moral  and 
meritorious  deed.  Mariana's  claim  that  Jacques  Clement, 
the  murderer  of  Henry  in.,  was  "the  eternal  glory  of 
France"  was  echoed  by  thousands  of  his  colleagues. 
It  seems  to  me  very  material  to  bear  this  in  mind  in 
all  these  cases  of  assassination.  The  attitude  of  their 
apologists  is  singular :  they  admit  that  the  Jesuits  as  a 
body  regarded  the  assassination  of  kings  who  menaced 
the  faith  as  a  just  and  proper  action,  yet  are  remarkably 
eager  to  prove  that  the  Jesuits  never  acted  on  their 
belief.  On  Jesuit  principles  the  murder  of  Henry  iv. 
was  not  a  crime. 

We  must,  on  the  other  hand,  say  that  the  evidence 
of  Jesuit  complicity  with  Ravaillac  is  unsatisfactory,  in 
spite  of  Michelet's  spirited  reliance  on  it.  A  certain 
Mme  d'Escoman  asserted  that  she  overheard  the  Duke 
d'Epernon  telling  the  plot  to  Henry's  former  lover,  the 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    127 

Marquise  de  Veriieuil,  and  that  she  revealed  it  to  the 
Jesuit  superior  in  good  time  to  warn  Henry  ;  a  soldier 
named  Dujardin  then  told  that  he  had  seen  Ravaillac  in 
the  service  of  Epernon  at  Naples,  and  that  the  Jesuits 
of  that  city  had  urged  him  (Dujardin)  to  enter  the  plot. 
Both  these  witnesses  were  of  low  moral  character,  and 
had  a  prospect  of  gaining  by  their  revelations  ;  we  must 
therefore  refrain  from  basins  a  verdict  on  their  evidence. 
A  recent  French  student  of  the  subject^  has  concluded 
that  Epernon  and  others  were  really  plotting  to  take  the 
life  of  Henry,  but  that  Ravaillac  committed  the  crime  on 
his  own  initiative,  and  that  the  Jesuits  were  not  in  either 
plot,  though  it  may  be  true  that  Mme  d'Escoman  warned 
them  of  Epernon's  plot.  This  ingenious,  but  not  wholly 
convincing,  suggestion  explains  how  Ravaillac  could, 
with  his  dying  breath  and  under  threat  of  damnation, 
swear  that  he  had  no  accomplices,  but  it  really  leaves 
open  the  question  of  the  guilt  of  the  Jesuits.  The 
witnesses  are  of  too  low  a  character  for  us  to  decide 
whether  they  tell  the  truth  or  no.  It  is  suspicious  that 
Father  Coton  visited  Ravaillac  in  jail  and  warned  him 
"  not  to  bring  trouble  on  good  people  "  by  his  statements, 
as  we  know  on  the  high  authority  of  d'Estoile. 

These  witnesses  only  came  forward  with  their  stories 
at  a  later  date,  but  Paris  had  already  turned  with  fierce 
indignation  upon  the  Society.  Although  the  doctrine 
of  tyrannicide  may  have  been  taught  before  the  Society 
was  established,  it  was  chiefly  through  the  more  explicit 
and  general  teaching  of  the  Jesuits  that  it  became  a 
popular  conviction  among  the  general  body  of  the  faith- 
ful and  began  to  inflame  the  brains  of  fanatics.  Mariana's 
book  was  burned  by  order  of  the  Parlement,  in  spite  of 
the  effort  of  the  Jesuits  to  save  it;  they  did  succeed  in 
getting  a  reference  to  the  Jesuit  character  of  the  author 

^  Jules  Loiseleur,  Ravaillac  et  ses  complices,  1S73. 


128  THE  JESUITS 

suppressed  in  the  indictment,  and  in  preventing  the 
works  of  Bellarmine,  Becanus,  and  others  of  their 
theologians  from  being  condemned.  They  had  the 
zealous  protection  of  Marie  de  Medici,  and  the  hostility 
to  them  had  to  expend  itself  in  a  shower  of  witty 
and  virulent  pamphlets.  Father  Coton,  especially,  was 
violently  assailed.  The  indulgence  with  which  he  had 
regarded  the  notorious  amours  of  his  royal  penitent  was 
said  to  be  quite  natural  in  a  man  who  had  tender 
relations  of  his  own.  The  Jesuits  continued  to  advance 
in  spite  of  this  hostility.  Father  de  Suffren  guided  the 
conscience  of  Mary  herself;  Father  Coton  and  Father 
Marguestana  directed  her  son  (Louis  xiii.)  and  her 
daughter  in  the  ways  of  virtue  and  political  ignor- 
ance. There  we  may  leave  the  Jesuits  of  France 
until  Richelieu  comes  to  disturb  their  mischievous  pro- 
Spanish  policy. 

When  we  pass  to  the  Netherlands  we  have  again  to 
consider  a  grave  accusation  of  complicity  in  a  design 
to  assassinate.  The  Netherlands  were  now  formally 
divided  into  Catholic  Belgium  and  Protestant  Holland, 
and  the  Dutch  were  eager  to  prevent  the  hated  Jesuits 
from  entering  the  country.  A  few  succeeded  in 
crossing  the  frontier  and  ministering,  in  disguise,  to 
the  remaining  Catholics.  The  kind  of  activity  they 
pursued  will  be  understood  when  we  have  followed 
the  similar  labours  of  the  Jesuits  in  England.  In 
1598,  however,  a  Belgian  was  arrested  at  Leyden  for 
a  design  on  the  life  of  Maurice  of  Nassau,  and  there  is 
the  customary  controversy  in  regard  to  the  complicity  of 
the  Jesuits. 

Peter  Panne  was  a  cooper  of  Ypres,  a  restless  and, 
apparently,  a  rather  disreputable  character.  His  method 
of  seeking  the  life  of  the  Dutch  prince  was  singularly  futile, 
and  he  made  a  lengthy  and  circumstantial  "  confession,"  in 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    129 

which  he  accused  the  Jesuits  of  Douai  of  egging  him  to 
commit  the  murder.  The  assassin  of  William  of  Orange 
in  1568  had  accused  a  Jesuit  confessor,  and  it  was 
natural  that  the  Dutch  should  again  expect  to  hear  of 
Jesuit  complicity.  His  story  was  therefore  implicitly 
believed  in  Holland,  and  wherever  the  Jesuits  were 
detested  ;  and  the  laws  against  them  were  made  more 
stringent.  In  the  following  year,  however,  Father 
Coster  undertook  the  defence  of  his  colleagues,  and 
their  apologists  maintain  that  he  has  completely  de- 
molished the  charge.^  To  the  impartial  student  the  case 
is  one  of  mere  affirmation  and  denial,  without  very  safe 
ground  for  judgment.  Coster  relies  upon  a  number  of 
reports  issued  by  small  legal  and  civic  authorities  in 
Belgium,  who,  at  the  request  of  the  Jesuits,  examined 
many  witnesses,  including  Panne's  wife  and  others  named 
by  him.  These  witnesses  flatly  denied  the  story  told  by 
Panne  of  his  and  their  movements,  and  the  unofficial 
judges  then  drew  up  statements  to  the  effect  that  the 
Jesuits  were  innocent.  At  first  sight  it  would  seem 
that  we  ought  at  once  to  prefer  the  testimony  of  these 
numerous  witnesses  to  that  of  Panne ;  but  when  we 
reflect  on  the  Jesuit  doctrine  of  mental  reservation,  we 
must  admit  that  the  word  of  these  witnesses,  provided 
by  the  Jesuits,  is  not  to  be  taken  at  its  superficial  value. 
According  to  the  Jesuit  theologians,  witnesses  might 
give  absolutely  false  answers,  and  confirm  them  by 
the  most  sacred  oaths,  to  judges  or  others,  if  they  felt 
that  the  inquirer  had  no  right  to  learn  the  truth  from 
them.  In  the  case  of  Panne's  wife,  for  instance,  the 
Jesuit  would  most  certainly  decide  that  she  would  be 
justified  in  denying,  on  oath,  that  she  had  ever  spoken 
to  her  husband  about  the  projected  murder,  even  if  it 

1  I  have  consulted  the  Latin  translation,  by  another  Jesuit,  of  Coster's 
work,  Sica  tragica  Comiti  Mauritioa  Jesuitis  .  .  .  inientata  (1599). 

9 


I30  THE  JESUITS 

were  true  that,  as  Panne  said,  she  urged  him  to  do  it. 
In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  find  the  English  Father 
Gerard  acting  on  this  well-known  Jesuit  principle.  We 
cannot,  therefore,  attach  any  importance  to  these  denials. 
And  when  Father  Coster  goes  on  to  prove,  or  assert, 
that  Panne  was  a  doubtful  Catholic  and  an  unscrupulous 
fellow,  he  seems  to  overreach  himself.  Why  should 
such  a  man  seek  to  do  the  work  of  a  Catholic  fanatic  at 
the  risk  of  his  life  ?  Clearly,  only  because  some  one 
offered  him  payment.  Either  the  gravest  legal  tribunal 
in  Holland  paid  him  to  lie,  or  else  his  story  gives  the 
only  plausible  explanation  of  his  conduct.  It  is  more 
natural  to  suppose  that  the  Jesuits  acted  on  their  known 
principles  of  regicide  and  mental  reservation  than  that 
the  Dutch  acted  in  the  most  flagrant  violation  of  their 
principles ;  and  the  mere  fact  of  an  indifferent  Catholic 
risking  his  life  to  kill  an  heretical  prince  suggests  this 
view. 

In  Belgium  the  Jesuits  recovered  all  the  ground 
they  had  lost  in  the  religious  wars,  and  at  length  secured 
an  unassailable  legal  existence.  At  this  period  we  are 
at  every  step  observing  the  collusion  of  the  Jesuits 
with  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  and  we  have  still  to  see  how 
they  helped  him  in  his  effort  to  annex  England.  He 
was  not  ungrateful,  and  he  definitely  overrode  the  pre- 
judice of  the  Flemings  and  legally  established  the 
Jesuits  in  Belgium  (1584).  They  at  once  became  so 
bold  that  we  find  the  Governor  of  Luxemburg  levying 
taxes  on  the  citizens  for  the  erection  of  Jesuit  houses  : 
a  project  which  caused  such  an  outbreak  of  anger  that 
they  had  to  retreat  from  the  province.  The  University 
of  Louvain  continued  to  disdain  and  assail  them,  but 
their  great  victory  in  securing  the  condemnation  of  the 
Chancellor  of  the  University,  Michel  de  Bay,  had  given 
them  much  prestige.      Baius  endeavoured  to  recover  by 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    131 

denouncing  to  Rome  their  theologian  Lessius  ;  but  his 
attempt  failed,  and  the  Jesuits  renewed  their  effort  to 
capture  or  displace  the  university/ 

The  record  of  the  Germanic  provinces  is  chiefly  re- 
markable for  the  extension  into  Poland  and  an  attempt 
to  penetrate  Russia.     The  Jesuits  had  entered  Poland 
under    Stephen    Bathori,    and   made    such    progress    in 
twenty  years  that  men  spoke  bitterly  of  their  "fortified 
palaces,"    and   saw   with    regret    that    nearly  the  whole 
education  of  the  nobility  was  in  their  hands.      In  one 
college    (Pultusk)    they    boasted    that    they   had    four 
hundred  youths  of  noble  birth.      In   1581  the  Poles  were 
brino-ino-  to  a  victorious  close  their  long-  war  with  Russia, 
and  the  Tsar  appealed  for  the  mediation  of  the  Pope. 
It   was  an    auspicious    opportunity   for    re-opening   the 
question  of  the  union  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  Churches, 
and    the    adventurous     Father    Possevin    (the    former 
Legate  to  Sweden)  was  sent  as  Legate.      He  learned  on 
the  way  from  Bathori  that  the  Poles  would  drive  a  hard 
baro-ain,  and  felt  that  this  strengthened  his  position  with 
reo-ard  to  Russia.      He  was  received  with  great  honour 
in  Russia,  and  the  Tsar  gave  many  privileges  to  Catholics, 
but  the  war  concluded  at  length  without  a  word  of  union. 
It  is  clear  that  he  then  used  his  influence  to  induce  the 
Russians  to  yield,  so  that  his  Society  might  at  least  have 
the   gratitude    of   the  Poles.      He   remained  for  a  long 
time  at  Moscow,  but  made  no  progress,  and  the  Pope 
recalled  him  to  crush  heresy  in  Transylvania.      He  was 
afterwards    mediator    between    Germany   and     Poland. 
Possevin  had  considerable  diplomatic  ability,  though  he 
was  apt  to  love  melodramatic  situations,  like  so  many  of 
the   political   Jesuits.     Acquaviva   at   last    resented    his 

^  When  I  studied  at  Louvain  University  in  1893,  I  found  the  struggle  just 
as  it  had  been  three  hundred  years  before.  The  Jesuits  still  sought  in  vain 
to  capture  the  university,  and  were  detested  as  cordially  as  ever. 


132  THE  JESUITS 

flagrant  political  activity,  and  compelled  him  to  settle  as 
a  teacher  at  Padua. 

Stephen  Bathori  was  succeeded  in  1586  by  a  pupil 
of  the  Jesuits,  Sigismund  iii.,  and  their  power  became 
greater  than  ever,  and  provoked  a  strong  reaction. 
Their  conduct  in  Transylvania,  where  most  of  the 
nobles  were  still  Protestant,  caused  them  to  be  expelled 
from  that  province  by  the  Diet,  and  many  nobles  of  the 
Polish  Diet  endeavoured  to  have  them  expelled  from 
the  whole  kingdom.  They  were  bitterly  accused  of 
intriguing  to  get  possession  of  the  property  of  Protest- 
ants, and  even  of  rival  religious  orders.  At  Dantzic 
they  were  compelled  to  return  the  property  of  a  com- 
munity of  nuns.  The  nobles  chiefly  resented  their 
interference  in  politics  and  control  of  education,  and 
penned  some  fiery  indictments  of  what  they  called  their 
"  machinations."  An  edict  of  the  Diet  for  the  year 
1607  is  not  flattering  to  them. 

In  the  same  period  they  overran  the  Catholic  cantons 
of  Switzerland,  Bohemia,  Baden,  and  most  of  the  south- 
German  States.  Throughout  the  whole  Germ.anic  world 
their  procedure  was  of  much  the  same  character.  A  few 
worthy  and  powerful  men  like  Canisius  would  secure 
the  opening  of  the  doors  to  the  Society,  and  a  host 
of  less  religious  fathers  would  then  intrigue  for  funds  to 
build  colleges  and  educate  the  young,  and  organise  the 
Catholic  laity  in  enthusiastic  confraternities  or  sodalities. 
Partly  by  these  methods,  but  very  largely  by  their  great 
skill  in  securing  the  ear  of  princes,  they  not  only  greatly 
strengthened  the  surviving  Catholic  populations,  but 
they  undoubtedly  regained  much  territory  from  the 
Reformers,  They  opposed  a  positive  and  unvarying 
creed  to  the  conflicting  doctrines  of  the  Protestants,  and 
the  religious  life  they  themselves  exhibited  had  none  of 
the  grossness  which  had  done  so  much  to  provoke  the 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA   133 

Reformation.  Here  and  there,  however,  they  clearly 
resorted  to  unworthy  means  to  secure  property  or  in- 
fluence, and  were  heatedly  assailed.  A  very  curious 
series  of  outbreaks  against  them  occurred  in  1584. 
They  boasted  of  the  share  their  Father  Clavius  had 
had  in  the  reform  of  the  calendar ;  but,  when  it  came 
to  the  time  of  Carnival  and  Lent,  and  later  of  Christmas, 
the  distracted  citizens  were  sometimes  defrauded  of 
their  traditional  pleasures  by  the  alteration  of  the 
calendar,  and  took  their  revenge  on  the  windows  of 
the  Jesuits. 

The  only  notable  experience  of  the  Society  in  Italy 
was  the  expulsion  of  the  fathers  from  Venice.  A  feel- 
ing of  irritation  against  them  had  lingered  in  the 
Republic  since  their  inauspicious  entry  under  Ignatius, 
and  of  late  years  the  French  and  Spanish  strictures  on 
them  had  found  very  ominous  echoes  in  Venice.  In 
the  early  years  of  the  seventeenth  century  this  feeling 
was  inflamed  by  the  attitude  of  the  Jesuits  in  siding 
with  the  Pope  against  the  civic  authorities.  The 
secular  authorities  had  been  so  indignant  at  the  dis- 
covery of  certain  brutal  crimes  committed  by  some  of 
the  clergy  that,  in  spite  of  ecclesiastical  privileges,  they 
proceeded  against  the  criminals.  The  quarrel  with 
Rome  which  followed  ended  in  the  Pope  placing  Venice 
under  an  interdict,  and  the  great  body  of  the  clergy  of 
Venice  patriotically  ignored  the  interdict  and  continued 
to  minister  to  the  citizens.  The  Jesuits  were  in  a 
painful  dilemma.  They  made  a  futile  attempt  to  evade 
it  by  closing  their  public  churches,  but  keeping  their 
houses  open,  and  the  Council  banished  them  from  the 
city.  A  crowd  of  citizens  assembled  on  the  banks  of 
the  canal  when  the  gondolas,  bearing  the  condemned 
fathers,  left  the  city,  and  they  do  not  attempt  to  repre- 
sent it  as  a  crowd  weeping  for  their  departure.      "  Ande 


134  THE  JESUITS 

in  mal'  hora "  was  the  scornful  reply  made  to  one  of 
their  number  who  appealed  to  the  people.  Their  very 
valuable  property  was  confiscated,  and  they  would  not 
re-enter  Venice  for  half  a  century. 

We  might  admire  the  Jesuits  at  least  for  their 
courageous  adherence  to  their  own  principles  in  these 
experiences  of  the  year  1606,  and  we  cannot  regard  it 
as  other  than  natural  that  they  should  attempt  to  drag 
the  rest  of  the  clergy  into  sharing  their  attitude.  But 
the  indictment  of  them  which  the  Venetian  Senate  made 
after  their  departure  goes  further  than  this.  They  were 
accused  of  grave  intrigue  in  the  quarrel  between  Rome 
and  the  Republic,  and  it  was  said  that  they  abused  their 
position  as  confessors  to  the  noble  ladies  of  Venice  to 
learn  the  secrets  of  the  Senate  and  frustrate  its  aims. 
Venice,  it  will  be  remembered,  took  a  particular  pride 
in  the  secrecy  of  its  political  life,  and  it  especially 
distrusted  so  notoriously  pro-Spanish  a  body  as  the 
Jesuits.  These  charges  we  cannot,  of  course,  control, 
but  they  are  consonant  with  the  ordinary  action  of  the 
Society.  It  was  decreed  that  they  be  banished  for  ever  ; 
that  if  ever  the  question  of  recalling  them  were  raised, 
this  indictment  must  be  read  again  in  the  Council  of 
Ten,  and  that  any  citizen  who  held  communication  with 
the  Jesuits  should  be  sent  to  the  galleys.  The  question 
of  recalling  them  was,  of  course,  raised  at  once. 
Henry  iv.  was  induced  to  plead  their  cause  at  Venice, 
while  Spain  used  all  its  power  to  prevent  a  reconcilia- 
tion of  the  Papacy  and  the  Republic  except  on  condition 
that  the  Society  be  restored.  So  convinced  were  the 
Venetians  of  the  anti-patriotic  action  of  the  Jesuits  that 
they  peremptorily  refused  to  yield,  and  Acquaviva  had 
to  resiofn  himself  to  defeat. 

At    Rome   a    more   prolonged   and    more   academic 
quarrel  had  nourished  the  feeling   against  the  Society. 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA  135 

The  subject-matter  of  this  controversy  is  of  interest  only 
to  theologians,  and  the  whole  struggle  must  be  dismissed 
in  a  few  words.      In  brief,  a  Jesuit  theologian  of  Portugal, 
named  Molina,  had  in   1588  published  a  work  [Libert 
arbitrii  cum  graticB  donis  concordia),  in  which  he    had 
made  novel  efforts  to  illumine  the  mystery  of  the  con- 
sistency of  human  freedom  with  the  action  of  grace,  and 
the    way  in    which  God  may  have  a  foreknowledge  of 
events    which    may    or   may    not    take    place.       When 
Cr^tineau-Joly  observes    that    Molina  "  talked  as  if  he 
had  been  admitted  to  the  counsels  of  the  Most  High," 
we  can  understand  the  indig-nation  of  rival  theologians 
of  the   time.     A  Dominican    theologian,  named  Bafiez, 
had  a  different  theory  of  these    abstruse  matters,    and 
there  was  soon  a  fierce  quarrel  between  the  two  orders. 
When    the    Spanish    Inquisition    refused    to    condemn 
Molina,  the    Dominicans  carried  the  quarrel  to   Rome, 
where    it   enlivened    and    heated    the    chambers    of  the 
Vatican  and  the  religious  houses  for  more  than  twenty 
years.     A  commission  appointed  by  the  Pope  condemned 
the  teaching  of  Molina  as  "a  dangerous  novelty,"  the 
Jesuits  induced  the  Pope  to  suspend  sentence,  and  even 
profane  ambassadors  were  drawn  into  the  sacred  arena. 
Spain    threw    its    influence    against    Molina :     France, 
naturally,  supported   him.      It  was    not    until   1607  that 
Paul  v.  judiciously  decided  that  either  opinion  might  be 
held  with  a  safe  conscience  ;  and  when    it  proved  pro- 
foundly unsatisfactory  to  both  parties  to  find  that  their 
rivals  were  permitted  to  live,  the  Pope  had,  in  161 1,  to 
impose    silence    on    the    disputants.     The  struggle   still 
lingers  in  the  remote  and  innocuous  volumes  of  dogmatic 
theology  which  the  rival  orders  occasionally  publish. 

In  fine,  we  must  glance  at  the  progress  of  the  foreign 
missions  under  Acquaviva.  The  Japanese  mission  now 
reached  its  highest  prosperity  and  entered  upon  the  days 


136  THE  JESUITS 

of  persecution.      In   1565  there  were  ten  Jesuit  mission- 
aries in  Japan,  but  thirteen  more  were  added  to  these  in 
1577,  and  the  work  proceeded  rapidly.     The  fathers  took 
no  money  from  the  converts,  building  their  churches  on 
funds  they  received  from  Europe  ;  in  fact,  we  find  them, 
as  elsewhere,  adopting  very  novel  and  somewhat  dubious 
devices  to  extend  their  work  and  enlarge  the  figures  of 
conversions  which  it  was  important  to  send  to  Europe. 
They  received    into    the  Society  a  v/ealthy  Portuguese 
merchant    named    Almeida,    and    then    directed   him  to 
remain  in  his  warehouses  and  ply  his  lucrative  trade  in 
Japan,  until  a  few  years  before  his  death,  in  the  interest 
of  the  Society.     The  detail  is  recorded  without  a  blush 
by  their  official  historians.     The  chief  strength  of  their 
Japanese  mission  lay  in  the  Portuguese  commerce  with 
Japan.     This  commerce  was   profitable  to  the  country, 
and  its  rulers  saw  little  harm  in  purchasing  it  by  allowing 
the  Portuguese  to    preach    their  strange   gospel  to   the 
natives. 

Yet  no  one  can  read  the  records  of  the  Japanese 
mission  without  realising  that  the  success  of  this  early 
Christian  mission  was  singularly  sincere  and  solid,  and 
presents  a  most  remarkable  and  inexplicable  contrast  to 
the  experience  of  our  own  time.  By  the  year  1580  the 
Jesuits  announced  that  they  had  made  100,000  converts  ; 
by  the  year  1593  they  represent  this  number  as  doubled. 
We  may  assume  that  a  large  number  of  very  imperfectly 
converted  Japanese  help  to  round  these  generous  figures, 
but  the  extraordinary  number  of  native  Christians  whom 
we  shall  presently  find  ready  to  endure  suffering  and 
death  for  their  faith  must  convince  every  candid  student 
that  the  early  missionaries  had  sincerely  converted  an 
astonishing  proportion  of  the  nation.  The  success  is 
the  more  strange  when  we  reflect  that  the  Jesuits  were 
not    men    of    what    is    usually    understood    to    be   an 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    137 

"  apostolic  "  character.  Not  only  had  they  members  of 
their  Society  making  money  as  merchants,  but  they 
induced  Philip  of  Spain  to  send  out  his  subsidy  to  them  in 
the  form  of  fifty  large  bales  of  silk  every  year,  and  they 
secured  the  sale  of  these  to  their  highest  advantage. 
Even  less  edifying  is  the  fact  that  in  1585  they  induced 
the  Pope  to  decree  that  no  other  priests  than  Jesuits 
should  be  allowed  to  enter  Japan. 

Two  years  later  the  clouds  began,  as  if  in  punishment, 
to  overcast  their  prosperity.  Taicosama  had  usurped 
the  chief  throne  of  Japan  in  1583,  and,  as  the  Catholic 
generals  in  the  army  had  made  no  defence  of  their 
legitimate  monarch,  he  continued  for  some  years  to 
favour  the  Church.  The  displacement  of  the  native 
faith,  however,  led  him  to  reflect  that  it  might  entail 
political  displacements,  and  he  is  said  to  have  seized  the 
opportunity,  when  certain  Christian  girls  refused  the 
honour  of  being  added  to  the  lengthy  list  of  his  concu- 
bines, to  suppress  the  mission.  The  Jesuits  were  to 
leave  his  kingdom  within  twenty  days,  or  die  ;  and  he 
burned  nearly  a  third  of  their  240  chapels.  The 
Provincial  Valignani  returned  from  Italy  to  find  his 
mission  on  the  brink  of  destruction.  He  had  taken  a 
few  noble  Japanese  youths  to  Europe,  and  was  bringing 
them  back  to  tell  their  fellows  of  the  grandeur  of  Rome 
and  Spain.  As  a  Jesuit  he  was  forbidden  to  enter  the 
kingdom.  With  remarkable  ease  he  transformed  him- 
self into  an  ambassador  of  the  Viceroy  of  India,  and 
was  borne  in  a  superb  litter  to  the  presence  of  Taicosama, 
on  whom  he  showered  presents  and  compliments.  The 
Jesuits  were  allowed  to  remain  in  the  country,  though 
still  forbidden  to  practise  their  religion,  and  the  hundred 
priests  had  for  some  time  to  be  content  with  stealthy 
and  nocturnal  ministration  to  their  converts. 

At  length  Taicosama  turned   upon  them  with   fury, 


138  THE  JESUITS 

and  the  great  persecution  began.  Kaempfer  says  that 
the  Jesuits  excited  the  anger  of  the  nobles  by  an  insolent 
refusal  to  pay  them  the  customary  respect ;  but  a  more 
substantial  grievance  came  to  the  ears  of  the  monarch. 
In  1596  a  Japanese  was  examining  a  map  of  the  earth 
on  which  the  vast  possessions  of  Spain  were  shown. 
He  asked  a  Spanish  pilot  how  his  master  had  obtained 
this  enormous  territory,  and  the  man  imprudently  replied 
that  Philip  first  sent  missionaries  into  a  country  to  pre- 
pare it  for  subjection,  then  armies.  The  remark  was 
reported  to  the  Emperor,  and  he  fell  upon  the  mission- 
aries with  a  just  charge  that  they  had  violated  his  pro- 
hibition of  the  practice  of  the  Christian  cult.  A  number 
of  Jesuits  and  Franciscans  were  crucified,  and  thousands 
—  the  Jesuits  say  20,000  —  of  the  native  Christians 
testified  to  the  sincerity  of  their  belief  by  embracing 
martyrdom.  The  death  of  Taicosama  in  the  following 
year,  1598,  put  a  stop  to  the  persecution,  and  it  is  claimed 
that  70,000  converts  were  made  in  the  next  two  or  three 
years.  The  Protestant  Dutch  traders  were,  however, 
now  displacing  the  Portuguese  and  Spanish,  and  repeat- 
ing to  the  Japanese  those  dark  opinions  of  the  political 
intrigues  of  the  Jesuits  which  were  current  in  their  own 
land.  Once  more  the  decree  of  extermination  went 
forth,  and  by  the  year  of  the  death  of  Acquaviva  the 
mission  was  nearly  extinct.  Its  second  recovery  and 
final  destruction  will  occupy  us  later. 

The  rule  of  Acquaviva  was  also  memorable  for  the 
beginning  of  the  Chinese  mission.  The  repeated  failures 
to  gain  admission  drove  the  Jesuits  to  fresh  expedients, 
and  a  few  of  their  more  learned  members  applied  them- 
selves to  a  thorough  study  of  Chinese  culture  and 
relig-ion.  The  first  and  most  distinoruished  of  these  was 
Father  Ricci,  whom  we  find  living  in  Chao  Hing,  and 
astonishing  the   local    mandarins  with   his  learning,   in 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA   139 

1583.  We  are  not  accurately  informed  how  Ricci  ob- 
tained admission,  but  we  have  seen,  and  shall  see,  that  a 
Jesuit  was  prepared  to  make  any  profession  whatever  in 
order  to  enter  a  forbidden  land.  He  seems  to  have 
concealed  his  religion,  and  posed  as  a  lay  scholar,  until 
he  was  sufficiently  advanced  in  the  confidence  of  a  few 
to  entrust  his  ideas  to  them.  He  dressed  as  a  Chinese 
scholar,  and  had  (after  1587)  two  disguised  lay-brothers 
in  his  house,  which  was  transferred  to  Chao  Chu.  The 
mob,  discovering  his  aims,  attacked  the  house  ;  but  Ricci's 
able  command  of  Western  learning  and  appliances  had 
greatly  impressed  Chinese  scholars,  and  he  made  steady, 
if  slow,  progress.  In  the  year  1600  he  was  invited  to 
visit  the  Emperor  at  Peking,  and  shrewdly  took  with 
him  a  collection  of  telescopes,  clocks,  and  other  wonders 
of  the  West.  He  was  allowed  to  live  at  Peking  and 
enjoy  the  favour  of  the  Emperor,  and  other  priests 
quietly  entered  China  and  helped  to  found  the  mission. 
At  one  time  its  promise  was  nearly  destroyed  by  a 
quarrel  of  the  rival  missionaries, — Jesuit,  Franciscan, 
and  secular, — but  Ricci  tactfully  averted  the  persecution 
which  their  mutual  charg-es  brought  on  them.  He  died 
in  16 10,  and  was  honoured  with  a  magnificent  funeral  at 
Peking.  Numerically,  there  were  as  yet  few  converts. 
Ricci  was  not  the  kind  of  man  to  rush  into  the  street 
with  a  crucifix  and  proclaim  that  the  deities  of  China 
were  false  gods.  It  is  only  at  a  later  date  that  we 
shall  find  a  large  and  important  mission  in  China. 

The  rest  of  the  missionary  field  reported  almost 
uniform  progress  under  the  vigorous  rule  of  Acquaviva. 
Canada  was  opened  by  the  French  troops,  and  several 
Jesuits  began  to  work  among  the  Indians.  Mexico 
proved,  they  reported,  an  easy  ground ;  they  claimed 
that  half  the  population  was  Christian  by  1608.  The 
Brazilian  mission  now  had  a  hundred  and  fifty  priests 


I40  THE  JESUITS 

extending  its  flourishing  work,  and  the  first  excursions 
were  made  into  Paraguay  (1586)  and  Chih  (1593)-  In 
1604,  fifty-six  fathers  were  sent  into  Peru.  In  the  East, 
the  Hindu  mission  continued  to  spread  on  the  Hnes  we 
have  already  described,  and  Abyssinia  at  last  consented 
to  admit  the  Jesuits.  It  will  be  convenient  to  defer 
until  the  next  chapter  a  closer  consideration  of  these 
missions. 

This  survey  of  the  fortunes  of  the  Society  under  the 
thirty-five  years'  rule  of  Acquaviva  is  a  sufficient 
testimony  to  the  ability  of  that  gifted  leader.  When 
he  died,  on  31st  January  161 5,  the  5000  members  of 
the  Society  who  had  greeted  his  election  had  become 
13,000,  and  550  Jesuit  establishments  were  scattered 
over  the  globe,  from  Peking  to  the  slopes  of  the  Andes. 
In  view  of  the  methods  of  the  Society — the  direct  and 
at  times  indelicate  seeking  of  money  and  the  favour  of 
the  powerful — this  growth  cannot  be  regarded  as 
singular.  The  Society  had  adopted  new  and  very 
eff^ective  devices  to  increase  their  influence  and  member- 
ship ;  it  is  not  as  if  other  religious  bodies  had  used  the 
same  means,  and  been  less  successful.  And  it  is  now 
clear  that  the  distinctive  general  principles  of  the 
Society  were  rapidly  assuming  a  complexion  which  the 
impatient  feeling  of  its  critics  has  expressed  in  the 
maxim  that  "  the  end  justifies  the  means."  This  will  be 
even  more  apparent  when  we  consider,  in  more  detail, 
the  activity  of  the  Jesuits  in  England. 

I  have  as  yet  made  no  mention  of  the  "  Regulation 
of  Studies  "  {Ratio  Studiorii^n),  which  some  regard  as 
one  of  Acquaviva's  most  significant  services  to  the 
Society.  I  am  unable  to  see  this  significance  in  the 
treatise  which  (with  later  modifications)  Acquaviva  pre- 
sented for  the  acceptance  of  the  General  Congregation 
in    1599.      It  is  rather  a  disciplinary  measure    than  an 


PROGRESS  AND  DECAY  UNDER  ACQUAVIVA    141 

educational  code,  and  no  improvement  of  Jesuit  culture 
followed  its  promulgation.  It  attempted  to  impose  a 
uniform  course  of  two  years  in  rhetoric  and  humanities 
(with  fragmentary  or  expurgated  editions  of  the  classics), 
three  years  in  philosophy  (including  mathematics),  and 
four  years  in  theology,  on  all  the  students  of  the  Society. 
It  also  imposed  the  use  of  Latin  in  conversation  except 
during  the  hour  of  recreation  and  on  holidays.  This 
scheme  never  was,  and  is  not  now,  rigidly  followed,  and 
where  it  is  followed  the  gain  is  disciplinary  rather  than 
cultural.  We  shall  see  better,  when  we  come  to  examine 
Jesuit  scholarship,  the  grave  defects  of  the  Jesuit  educa- 
tion from  a  general  pedagogical  point  of  view.  Its 
aim  was  narrow  and  specific, — the  production  of  sound 
theologians, — and  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  judge  it  at 
all  from  the  wider  educational  point  of  view,  were  it  not 
for  the  light  and  superficial  praise  it  sometimes  receives. 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN   ENGLAND 

The  first  attempts  of  the  Jesuits  to  carry  their  war 
against  Protestantism  into  the  British  Isles  have  been 
noticed,  at  their  various  dates,  in  previous  chapters. 
We  remember  the  brave  and  futile  journey  of  Brouet 
and  Salmeron  in  1541  ;  the  labours  of  David  Woulfe, 
of  unhappy  memory,  in  Ireland  in  1560;  the  fruitless 
adventures  of  Gouda  among  the  Scottish  Calvinists  in 
1562  ;  and  the  obscure  apostolate  of  Father  King  in 
England  in  1564.  Three  years  after  the  last  date, 
Father  Edmund  Hay  had  made  an  equally  unprofitable 
expedition  to  Scotland.  He  and  Thomas  Darbyshire, 
a  nephew  of  Bishop  Bonner,  had  been  directed  to 
accompany  a  Nuncio  on  a  fresh  attempt  to  advise  and 
confirm  Queen  Mary.  The  Nuncio  had  prudently 
remained  in  Paris,  and  sent  Father  Hay,  an  adven- 
turous young  Scot  who  loved  disguises  and  the  inspiring 
chances  of  politics,  to  explore  the  kingdom.  He  spent 
two  months  in  hiding  at  Edinburgh  in  the  early  part 
of  1567,  and  returned  to  say  that  there  was  no  hope 
of  success.  At  last,  in  1580,  a  very  able  and  remark- 
able English  Jesuit,  Father  Robert  Parsons,  opened 
that  stirring  chapter  of  Jesuit  history  which  closes  with 
the  Gunpowder  Plot. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation  in  England 
a  number  of   Catholic   students   had  gone  abroad,  and 

many    of  them    had    entered    the    Jesuit    novitiate    in 

142 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN  ENGLAND         143 

Belgium,  Germany,  and  Italy.  Father  More  has 
preserved  in  his  Historia  missionis  AnglicancB  (1660) 
the  names  of  about  thirty  Englishmen  who  figure 
in  the  chronicles  of  one  or  other  province  down  to 
the  year  1580.  Of  these  the  most  important  were 
Robert  Parsons  and  Edmund  Campion,  who  opened 
the  mission  of  1580.  Parson,  a  Somersetshire  man  of 
the  yeoman  class,  had  been  a  fellow  of  Balliol,  where 
he  had  attracted  some  attention  by  his  ability,  his 
religious  vacillations,  and  his  disagreeable  temper.  He 
was  compelled  to  resign  and  go  abroad  in  1573.  Some 
(Camden  and  others)  say  that  he  was  expelled  for  dis- 
honest conduct,  others  that  he  was  a  martyr  to  religious 
conviction  ;  but  Father  Taunton  concludes,  in  his 
excellent  study  of  Parsons,  that  he  left  "  on  account 
of  perpetual  disagreements  with  his  fellows."  ^  At 
Louvain  he  met  Father  William  Good,  who  induced 
him  to  go  through  the  exercises,  and  he  entered  the 
Society  at  Rome  in  1575.  He  was  ordained  priest, 
and  made  English  confessor  at  St.  Peter's  in  1578. 
Edmund  Campion,  who  was  the  son  of  a  London 
bookseller  and  a  brilliant  Fellow  of  St.  John's  (Oxford), 
had  meantime  joined  the  Society  and  was  at  Prague. 
He  had  known  Parsons  at  Oxford,  and  they  corre- 
sponded when  they  both  became  Jesuits. 

The     peculiar     circumstances    which    led    to    their 

^  E.  L.  Taunton,  History  of  the  Jesuits  in  England  (1901)  :  an  admir- 
able critical  study  of  Parsons  and  of  the  quarrels  of  the  Jesuits  with  the 
secular  clergy,  though  not  quite  a  balanced  and  comprehensive  history. 
R.  Simpson's  Edmund  Campion  (1867)  is  a  very  fine  biography  of  that 
high-minded  Jesuit ;  and  T.  Law  has  written  a  learned  and  exact  Historical 
Sketch  of  the  Conflicts  between  the  Jesuits  and  Secular  Priests  (1889).  More 
sympathetic  and  detailed  accounts  of  the  religious  work  of  the  English 
Jesuits  are  given  in  Dr.  Jessopp's  One  Generation  of  a  Norfolk  House 
(1879),  and  Father  Morris's  Life  of  Father  Gerard  {\Z%\).  A  complete 
and  impartial  history  of  the  Jesuits  in  England,  telling  with  equal  candour 
their  heroism  and  their  defects,  is  desirable.  The  writings  of  recent  Jesuits 
are  not  "history,"  but  very  Jesuitical  polemic. 


144  THE  JESUITS 

mission,  and  had  a  most  important  bearing  on  its 
history,  must  next  be  told.  A  wealthy  English  priest, 
Dr.  (afterwards  Cardinal)  Allen,  had  founded  a  college 
at  Douai  for  supplying  England  with  clergy  to  support 
the  old  faith.  It  was  transferred  to  Rheims  in  1578; 
and,  as  the  free  lodging  and  education  which  it  offered 
to  young  refugees  soon  caused  it  to  be  overcrowded, 
a  second  college  was  opened  at  Rome  and  generously 
supported  by  the  Pope.  The  Jesuit  fathers  lectured 
at  this  college.  The  rector.  Dr.  Clenock,  was  an 
injudicious  Welshman,  and  the  national  prejudices  of 
the  English  and  Welsh  students,  who  were  a  very  tur- 
bulent lot,  led  to  prolonged  and  most  violent  quarrels, 
which  ended  in  the  whole  body  of  the  young  apostles 
marching  out  of  the  college.  They  demanded  that  the 
management  of  the  college  should  be  given  to  the 
Jesuits,  and  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  Jesuits  encouraged 
their  revolt.  After  a  few  months  they  found  that  the 
Jesuits  also  were  unsuitable  masters,  and  the  trouble 
broke  out  afresh.  It  was  then  that  Robert  Parsons 
began  his  famous  diplomatic  career.  He  suggested 
that  the  Jesuits  should  co-operate  with  the  secular 
priests  on  the  English  mission.  General  Mercurian 
and  his  counsellors  demurred  at  first ;  there  was  no 
bishop  in  England  to  control  the  clergy,  and  they  fore- 
saw quarrels.  The  difficulty  was  removed  by  making 
the  aged  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  ordinary  for  the  whole 
of  England,  and  inducing  him  to  join  the  mission ; 
and  in  April  1580,  Parsons  and  Campion  (who  was 
summoned  from  Prague)  set  out  on  foot,  with  nine 
secular  priests  and  a  Jesuit  lay-brother,  Ralph  Emerson, 
for  Rheims. 

It  is  disputed  at  what  precise  stage  Parsons  began 
to  be  a  politician,  but  he  was  little  known  to  the  Papacy 
in   1580,  and  was   certainly  not  admitted   to   its   secret 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN   ENGLAND         145 

counsels.  He  learned  at  Rheims,  however,  that  a 
mission  of  by  no  means  a  pacific  character  had  at 
the  same  time  been  sent  to  Ireland,  and  we  know  that 
a  third  mission,  also  of  a  political  nature,  was  sent  to 
Scotland,  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  French  invasion. 
The  English  authorities  would  naturally  conclude  that 
the  mission  to  England  was  a  part  of  this  political 
conspiracy  against  Elizabeth.  They  had  spies  all  over 
Europe,  and  long  before  the  apostles  reached  Rheims 
a  pen-portrait  of  each  of  them  was  being  studied  and 
distributed  to  the  pursuivants  at  Westminster.  There 
had  as  yet  been  little  enforcement  of  the  penal  laws, 
in  spite  of  the  Pope's  unhappy  interference  with  the 
loyalty  of  English  Catholics.  It  was  well  known  that 
mass  was  said  in  more  than  one  house  in  London,  and 
that  many  a  quiet  manor-house  sheltered  nuns  and 
priests,  but  there  was  little  disposition  to  persecute  on 
account  of  belief,  and  as  yet  little  inclination  of  the 
Catholics  to  active  disloyalty.  To  admit  Jesuits  was 
a  different  matter.  What  did  even  the  Catholics  of 
France  and  Spain  say  of  them  ?  And  when  this  coming 
of  the  Jesuits  coincided  with  a  political  activity  of  Guise 
and  the  Papacy  against  the  English  throne,  it  was 
inevitable  that  the  authorities  should  decide  to  be 
vigilant  and  stringent.  The  missionaries  were  not 
deterred ;  they  left  their  aged  bishop  behind,  and 
made  their  way,  in  separate  parties,  to  the  coast.  At 
St.  Omer's  Parsons  and  Campion  learned  that  their 
names  and  descriptions  were  known  in  London,  and 
officers  were  on  the  watch  for  them,  but  the  spirit  of 
romance  and  devotion  urged  them  on,  and  they  planned 
their  campaign. 

It  is  an   amusing  and    characteristic    picture   which 
Parsons  draws  of  his  journey  to    London.      He  was  a 

big,  burly  man  of  thirty-four,  and  wore  the  uniform  of 
10 


146  THE  JESUITS 

an  officer  returning  from  the  wars  in  the  Low  Countries. 
The  befeathered  hat  and  gold-laced  coat  and  military- 
swagger  fitted  him  so  nicely  that  the  officers  not  only- 
passed  him,  but  got  a  horse  for  "the  captain"  and 
promised  to  pay  every  attention  to  his  friend  the  jewel- 
merchant  (Campion),  who  was  to  follow  him  in  a  few 
days.  By  the  end  of  June  they  were  together  in  the 
house  that  had  been  taken  for  them  in  Chancery  Lane. 
At  Rome,  Parsons  had  met  an  enthusiastic  and  wealthy 
young  Englishman  named  George  Gilbert,  and,  instead 
of  making  a  Jesuit  of  him,  had  sent  him  on  in  advance 
to  prepare  the  way  for  them.  He  had  boldly  taken 
rooms  for  them  under  the  nose  of  the  chief  official 
charged  to  arrest  them — who  was  probably  searching 
for  them  in  the  warrens  by  the  river  or  the  villages 
beyond  the  gates — and  had  formed  a  secret  association 
of  Catholics  throughout  the  country  to  help  them  in 
their  travels.  The  news  soon  spread  through  the 
Catholic  world  that  two  Jesuits  were  in  England,  and 
the  secular  priests,  whom  they  met  and  endeavoured 
to  conciliate,  urged  them  to  return  to  the  Continent. 
It  is  difficult  to  look  back  and  not  see  that  they  would 
best  have  served  the  cause  of  Catholicism  in  England 
by  quitting  it  at  once  ;  the  few  thousand  converts  they 
made,  or  waverers  whom  they  strengthened,  were  a 
small  service  in  comparison  with  the  fierce  hostility  they 
brought  on  the  faithful,  the  political  conspiracies  in  which 
they  involved  them,  and  the  bitter  dissensions  they 
caused  amongst  the  clergy.  But  for  the  coming  of 
the  Jesuits  and  the  plots  of  foreign  Catholics,  Catholicism 
might  have  lived  on  in  England  as  a  considerable  sect, 
overlooked  by  the  authorities,  until  the  Pope's  blunder 
was  forgotten  and  the  penal  spirit  abandoned. 

Yet  we  must  respect  the  two  Jesuits — to  omit  the 
humbler  services  of  Emerson — for  refusing  to  save  their 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS    IN  ENGLAND         147 

lives  by  an  immediate  flight,  and  no  historian,  whatever 
his  religious  views,  can  read  that  first  chapter  of  their 
story  in  England  without  sympathy  and  admiration. 
Each  was  provided  by  Gilbert  with  two  horses  and 
two  suits  and  a  servant,  and  they  bade  farewell 
to  each  other  and  set  out  to  make  their  way, 
separately,  through  the  legions  of  spies  and  officers. 
When  they  entered  a  county,  the  secret  members  of 
the  association  would  send  warning  to  the  scattered 
Catholics  along  the  route,  and  it  would  be  given  out 
that  an  acquaintance  was  expected.  Toward  evening 
the  Jesuit,  in  some  strange  disguise,  would  ride  into 
the  courtyard  and  receive,  under  the  eyes  of  the 
servants,  the  common  civilities  which  one  owed  to 
a  passing  acquaintance  ;  but  when  the  inner  chamber 
was  reached,  and  the  door  closed,  master  and  mistress 
would  fall  on  their  knees  and  kiss  the  hand  of  the 
traveller,  and  the  broad-brimmed  hat  would  be  removed 
to  disclose  the  face  of  the  priest  invoking  a  blessing 
on  the  persecuted  faithful.  Then  Catholic  neighbours 
might  come,  and  confessions  be  heard,  and  the  evening 
would  be  spent  in  sober  discussion  of  the  awful  catas- 
trophe that  had  befallen  their  Church.  In  the  early 
morning  a  chalice  and  an  altar-stone  and  vestments 
would  be  found  among  the  luggage  of  the  supposed 
soldier  or  merchant,  and  the  little  group  would  gather  in 
a  guarded  chamber  for  mass.  Possibly  in  the  midst  of 
the  ceremony  the  sentinel  would  whisper  that  the  pur- 
suivants were  upon  them,  and  some  stolid  Catholic 
servant  would  hold  the  men  at  the  door  until  priests 
and  vestments  were  safely  lodged  in  the  pit  which 
had  been  dug  beneath  the  floor  or  the  secret  chamber 
cut  out  of  the  solid  wall.  When  mass  was  over,  the 
disguised  Jesuit  would,  as  a  rule,  give  a  last  blessing 
and  take  to  the  road   again,  dining  at  inns  where  he 


148  THE  JESUITS 

might  see  on  the  wall  a  description  of  himself  and 
an  intimation  that  the  Government  wanted  to  hang, 
draw,  and  quarter  him.  Parsons  carried  his  bluff  so 
far  as  to  tear  down  one  of  these  bills,  and  ask  the 
landlord  what  he  meant  by  confronting  an  honest 
traveller  with  reminders  of  that  villainous  Jesuit. 

The  two  met  again  at  Uxbridge  in  October,  when 
Elizabeth  had  issued  a  third  proclamation  against 
them,  and  the  search  was  being  pressed  vigorously. 
Campion  returned  to  the  provinces,  and  Parsons  decided 
to  remain  in  or  near  London.  He  had  a  bold  design 
of  setting  up  a  press  and  stealthily  issuing  Catholic 
books,  but  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  he  was 
now  becoming  convinced  that  only  a  large  political 
action  could  save  the  faith  in  England.  He  saw 
much  of  the  Spanish  ambassador,  Mendoza,  even 
living  in  the  embassy  as  a  servant  for  a  time ;  and 
from  his  conversations  with  Mendoza  we  may  con- 
fidently date  that  idea  of  a  Spanish  invasion  of 
Enofland  which  was  to  dominate  the  remainder  of 
his  unfortunate  life  and  cause  incalculable  mischief. 
Not  only  the  general  rule  of  his  Society,  but  a  most 
explicit  command  laid  on  him  by  Mercurian  when  he 
left  Rome,  forbade  him  to  meddle  with  politics,  yet 
he  gradually  became  wholly  absorbed  in  a  political 
and  treacherous  project,  and  we  may  safely  date  its 
birth  about  this  time. 

Somewhere  out  of  London — at  East  Ham,  Simpson 
conjectures — he  set  up  his  press,  and  infuriated  the 
Council  by  disseminating  books  which  their  ad- 
visers pronounced  to  have  been  printed  in  England. 
Hundreds  of  arrests  were  made,  the  rack  was  busy 
at  the  Tower,  and  the  laws  were  made  more  drastic  ; 
yet  the  "howling  wolf"  (Parsons)  and  the  "wandering 
vagrant"    (Campion),    as    they   were    described    in    a 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN  ENGLAND         149 

debate  in  Parliament,  continued  to  evade  the  zealous 
officers.  Two  other  Jesuits,  Cottam  and  Bosgrave, 
who  attempted  to  join  them,  were  arrested  at  once 
and  put  in  the  Tower;  while  the  Irish  Jesuit, 
O'Donnell,  was  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  at 
Cork. 

In    the    early    part    of    1581     Fathers     Holt    and 
Hey  wood     penetrated     the     Protestant     defences     and 
joined    Parsons.       He   sent    Holt    on    to    Scotland,    to 
further    the    political    scheme    he    now    cherished,    and 
later  had  Father  Crichton  sent  on  direct  to  Edinburgh 
from    Rouen.     A   genial   page   of  Mr.   Andrew    Lang's 
History  of  Scotland  (ii.    282)    tells   how  these    Jesuits 
"  let  the  pigs  run  through  the  job  "  in  Scotland.     The 
romance  of  hiding  in   Holy  rood  and  assisting  the  great 
enterprise  of  the   invasion  of   England  seems   to  have 
exalted  them,  and  they  gave  Mary,  whom  they  would 
rescue,    a    very    poor    opinion    of     their    qualities    as 
diplomatists.       They    made    airy    promises    of    armies, 
to   be   provided    by   some  foreign  power,   until    at   last 
even  Mendoza  begged  them   to  confine   themselves   to 
the   saving  of  souls  and   leave  State  affairs    to  states- 
men.    Father  Hay,  another  Scottish  Jesuit  who  joined 
them,     advocated     the     assassination    of     the     leading 
Protestant    nobles.       These    Jesuits    returned    in    the 
course  of   time  to   the  Continent ;     Father   Ogilvie,    in 
1 61 5,    was    the    only    Catholic    who    was    executed    on 
the  ground  of  religion  in  Scotland  after  a  formal  trial. 
To   return  to  England,   Parsons  found  in  the  early 
spring   of    1581    that    his    lodging    in    East    Ham    was 
suspected,  and  he  moved  the  press  to  Dame  Stonor's 
park   near    Henley,    where    Campion    came    to    control 
the   printing   of  his    Ten   Reasons :    a    Latin   work,    not 
hampered     by     modesty,     which     greatly     stirred     the 
Protestant    divines    of    the    time.       Gilbert,    who    was 


ISO  THE  JESUITS 

now  under  surveillance  and  had  lost  most  of  his 
property  in  the  cause,  was  sent  to  Rome  to  report 
that  20,000  Catholics  had  been  added  to  the  list  of 
the  faithful  in  a  year — a  quite  incredible  number,  as 
only  50,000  recusants  were  known  to  the  Council  in 
the  whole  of  England.  On  nth  July  the  two  com- 
rades parted,  for  the  last  time  ;  Campion  was  caught 
at  Lyford  in  Berkshire  about  a  week  afterwards.  He 
had  imprudently  returned  to  a  house  at  which  he  had 
ministered,  and  the  officers  closed  round  it.  For  a 
day  and  a  night  Campion  lay  hidden  in  the  "priest's 
hole,"  but  the  officers  at  last  discovered  him,  and  sent 
him  to  London,  conspicuously  labelled  "Campion  the 
seditious  Jesuit."  We  will  not  linger  over  the  racking, 
the  thrusting  of  spikes  between  his  fingers  and  nails, 
and  the  other  horrible  devices  by  which  the  Council 
sought  to  extract  a  betrayal  of  others ;  though  we 
might  remind  those  who,  like  Cretineau-Joly,  speak 
of  these  things  as  the  hideous  inventions  of  Protestant 
hatred,  that  these  appalling  instruments  were,  on 
the  contrary,  already  stained  with  Protestant  blood. 
Campion's  great  courage  wavered  under  the  long  and 
terrible  strain,  and  he  supplied  a  few  names  of  Catholic 
houses,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  faithful  at  the  time  ; 
but  he  expiated  his  momentary  weakness,  on  ist 
December,  by  meeting  with  great  bravery  the  ghastly 
death  of  a  "traitor"  at  Tyburn.  One  of  the  two 
secular  priests  who  were  condemned  to  die  with  him. 
Father  Briant,  was  admitted  by  him  to  the  Society 
the  night  before  the  execution,  and  died  a  Jesuit. 
Father  Cottam  was  executed  in  the  following  May 
(1582). 

Parsons  left  Henley,  where  his  press  was  discovered 
a  month  later,  and  went  into  Sussex.  The  secular 
clergy  were    now    so   eager    to   get    the   Jesuits  out  of 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN   ENGLAND         151 

England  that  some  of  them  threatened  to  betray  him, 
and  he  went  to  France  in  March.  Probably  the  feeling 
that  he  could  promote  his  political  scheme  more  effec- 
tively on  the  Continent  had  more  to  do  with  his  flight 
than  the  fear  of  death  or  the  pressure  of  the  secular 
clergy.  He  remained  at  Rouen,  smuggling  English 
books  from  there  into  Engfland  and  doing-  all  that  he 
could  to  press  the  Scottish  enterprise.  It  was  from 
Rouen  that  he  sent  Crichton  into  Scotland,  and  he  was 
in  constant  correspondence  with  Mendoza  and  the  Duke 
of  Guise,  who  would  help  in  the  enterprise.  Crichton 
presently  returned  to  tell  of  the  large  and  imprudent 
offers  of  help  he  had  made  to  Lennox  in  Scotland,  and 
they  decided  to  make  an  effort  to  get  armies  for  the 
rescue  of  Mary  Stuart.  Crichton  was  sent  to  Rome, 
and   Parsons  went  to  Madrid. 

The  chief  interest  of  the  work  of  the  English  Jesuits 
remains  with  the  indefatigable  Parsons  on  the  Continent 
during  the  next  five  years,  and  a  few  words  will  suffice 
to  tell  the  story  of  his  colleagues  in  England.  Besides 
two  secular  priests,  Metham  and  Pound,  who  were 
admitted  to  the  Society  in  prison,  and  Emerson,  who 
was  in  prison  (and  remained  there  for  twenty  years), 
Heywood  was  now  the  only  Jesuit  in  England  ;  Holt 
had  been  captured  in  Scotland,  and  sent  back  to  the 
Continent.  Heywood  caused  a  great  deal  of  irritation 
by  his  masterful  ways,  and  the  secular  priests  indig- 
nantly describe  him  as  driving  in  a  luxurious  coach,  like 
a  baron,  and  living  so  comfortably  that  he  contracted 
gout.  He  was  recalled  to  the  Continent,  but  was 
captured  and  kept  in  the  Clink  until  1585,  when  he  was 
banished.  His  place  as  Vice-Prefect  of  the  mission 
— Parsons  was  Prefect — was  taken  by  Father  Weston, 
a  new  arrival,  whose  powers  in  expelling  demons  were  so 
singular  and  spectacular  that  he  used  to  take  possessed 


152  THE  JESUITS 

persons  about  with  him  in  his  stealthy  visits  to  the 
CathoHc  gentry,  and  give  most  amazing  displays — until 
it  was  discovered  that  the  "  mediums  "  were  frauds.  It 
had  paid  them,  apparently,  to  swallow  nauseous  drugs 
and  allow  themselves  to  be  mauled  by  Father  Weston. 
He  was  captured  and  lodged  in  Wisbeach  Castle  in  1587, 
but  Fathers  Garnet  and  Southwell  had  then  arrived, 
as  we  shall  see  presently.  We  must  follow  the  feverish 
political  activity  of  Parsons,  which  culminates  in  the 
sendinor  of  the  Armada. 

From  Paris  Parsons  had  made  a  swift  journey,  on 
horseback,  to  Madrid,  where  he  greatly  impressed 
Philip  II.  By  this  time,  at  least,  Parsons  deliberately 
advocated  the  transfer  of  the  English  crown  to  Philip, 
and  was  therefore  a  traitor  to  his  country  and  to  the 
rules  of  his  Society.  He  obtained  from  Philip  a  large 
sum  of  money  for  James  of  Scotland,  a  pension  for 
the  seminary  at  Rheims,  and  a  promise  that  Spanish 
influence  would  support  his  claim  of  a  red  hat  for  Allen  : 
he  was  anxious  to  remove  Allen  from  the  colleg-es  he 
had  founded,  so  that  the  Jesuits  could  control  the  supply 
of  priests  to  England.  A  severe  illness  kept  him  for 
some  months  in  Spain,  but  he  was  back  at  Paris  in  May 
1583.  During  the  summer  he  was  in  close  correspond- 
ence with  Guise  and  d'Alencon,  who  were  now  advocat- 
ing and  plotting  the  assassination  of  Elizabeth  as  the 
simplest  solution  of  the  situation.  In  August  Parsons 
went  to  Rome,  to  excuse  his  activity,  which  scandalised 
the  Parisian  Jesuits,  and  to  induce  the  Pope  to  subsidise 
the  Scottish  expedition  and  remove  Allen  to  a  loftier 
sphere.  He  returned  in  the  autumn,  having  secured  a 
bishopric  for  Allen  and  another  pension  for  the  college 
at  Rheims.  In  spite  of  the  protests  of  the  French 
Jesuits  he  continued  to  pursue  his  plots.  The  French 
dukes  withdrew  from   the  enterprise,  and  the  Spanish 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN  ENGLAND         153 

King  was  now  quite  willing  to  move,  if  the  Pope  would 
be  generous  with  funds.  Gregory  died  in  the  spring  of 
1585,  and  Parsons  and  Allen  went  to  Rome  to  win  the 
new  Pope,  Sixtus  v. 

There  is  at  this  date,  and  during  the  next  few  years, 
no  room  for  doubt  about  the  aim  of  Parsons.  We  have 
it  repeatedly  in  his  own  words  that  he  worked  to  seat 
Philip  on  the  throne  of  England,  and  he  shrewdly 
advised  Philip  to  conceal  his  intention,  from  the  English 
Catholics,  Scotland,  France,  and  the  Papacy,  until  his 
expedition  was  successful.  The  death  of  Mary  Stuart 
did  not  disturb  him,  and  he  gradually  discarded  the  idea 
of  attacking  through  Scotland.  Philip  was  to  make  a 
direct  attack,  and  the  English  Catholics  were  to  be 
instructed  to  look  to  Philip,  not  as  a  future  king,  but  as 
restorer  of  the  faith.  All  the  world  knows  the  result. 
The  great  Armada  (with  several  Jesuits  on  board)  sank 
to  the  bottom  of  the  Channel,  and  Parsons  had  the 
mortification  of  learning  that  even  Catholics  had  loyally 
taken  arms  to  repel  the  Spaniard.  There  ended  the 
second  phase  of  his  remarkable  career,  and  we  may  return 
to  England. 

In  July  1586  Henry  Garnet  and  R.  Southwell 
landed  on  the  Norfolk  coast,  as  Dr.  Jessopp  so  finely 
tells,  and  resumed  the  work  which  I  have  previously 
described.  Garnet  was,  if  somewhat  less  boisterous 
and  masterful,  the  new  Parsons  ;  Southwell,  a  retiring 
and  amiable  man,  the  new  Campion.  As  Weston  was 
arrested  in  1587,  Garnet  became  Vice-Prefect.  In  the 
following  year  John  Gerard  and  Edward  Oldcorne 
joined  them,  and  the  story  of  adventurous  ministration 
went  on.  On  one  occasion  the  four  Jesuits  were  nearly 
caught  in  a  batch,  saying  mass  in  a  Catholic  house  ; 
and  in  1594  Garnet  was  caught  and  imprisoned  for 
three  years.      He  escaped  from  the  Tower,  with  outside 


154  THE  JESUITS 

assistance,  in  1597,  and  returned  to  work.  Southwell 
was  betrayed  by  a  Catholic  lady  in  1592,  and,  after 
three  years  in  the  Tower,  was  executed  at  Tyburn  in 
1595.  In  the  same  year  Henry  Walpole  was  arrested 
on  arrival,  and  executed  at  York.  Father  Greenway 
was  the  only  other  Jesuit  to  enter  the  country  before 
1600,  and  we  must  leave  these  fathers  pursuing  their 
adventurous  work  and  consider  the  growing  quarrel  of 
the  Jesuits  and  the  secular  clergy. 

That  long  and  interesting  story  must  be  told  very 
briefly  here.  Wisbeach  Castle  had  been  chosen  as  a 
prison  for  captured  priests,  and  when  Weston  arrived 
there  in  1587,  he  very  plainly  tried  to  assume  a  leader- 
ship. As  his  various  suggestions  were  rejected,  he 
made  a  party  among  the  priest-prisoners,  got  himself 
appointed  director  of  it,  and  initiated  a  bitter  and 
prolonged  feud  which  spread  far  beyond  the  walls  of 
Wisbeach.  To  the  secular  priests'  charges  of  arrogance 
and  ambition,  the  Jesuit  writers  retort  that  even  in  jail 
the  English  priests  were  so  prone  to  drunkenness, 
gambling,  and  immorality  that  Father  Weston  was 
forced  to  live  apart  with  the  more  virtuous.  A  profane 
historian  must  not  attempt  to  judge  between  them. 
It  is  enough  that,  especially  in  the  years  1 595-1 597, 
reports  of  violent  quarrels  reached  Rome ;  and  these 
coincided  with  complaints  from  Belgium  of  the  be- 
haviour of  Father  Holt  (who  had  been  sent  as  agent 
of  Philip  II.  to  Brussels  and  was  denounced  to  the 
authorities  for  his  violent  political  partisanship),  and 
another  rebellion  of  the  students  of  the  Roman  college. 
Not  only  did  these  complain  of  their  Jesuit  masters, 
but  they  occasionally  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  papal 
police  in  wine-shops  and  other  improper  places,  and 
were  found  to  be  a  very  poor  and  undisciplined  body 
of  youths.      Mr.   Law  insists  that  the    Jesuits  kept  the 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN  ENGLAND         155 

English  priests  at  a  low  level  of  culture  in  order  to 
control  or  overshadow  them  the  more  easily. 

Parsons  was  now  recalled  from  Spain  and  political 
intrigue  to  deal  with  this  new  menace.  He  had  spent 
several  years  in  Spain,  founding  new  English  colleges 
(at  Valladolid,  Seville,  and  Madrid)  under  his  own 
control  and  working  out  his  learned  theory  that  the 
crown  of  England  belonged  of  strict  right  to  Spain.  He 
failed  to  induce  Philip  to  send  a  second  Armada,  and 
now  devoted  himself  to  proving  that  the  Infanta  was 
the  heir  to  the  crown  of  England.  That  is  the  idea  of 
the  book,  A  Conference  on  the  Succession,  which  he 
published,  anonymously,  in  1594:  a  year  after  the  fifth 
General  Congregation  of  his  Society  had  once  more 
sternly  decreed  that  no  Jesuit  must  meddle  with  politics. 

In  1597  he  reached  Rome  and  quickly  pacified  the 
students  of  the  college.  Some  of  them,  it  seems,  thought 
that  he  ought  to  be  made  a  cardinal  for  his  great  services, 
and  he  hastened,  with  tearful  eyes,  to  ask  the  Pope  to 
spare  him  that  dignity  ;  and  we  will  trust  that  he  was 
relieved  when  the  Pope  coldly  observed  that  he  had  not 
had  the  least  idea  of  imposing  it  on  him.  They  then 
turned  to  the  great  question  of  Wisbeach,  and  the  settle- 
ment of  it  doubly  interests  us  ;  partly  because  a  Jesuit 
supremacy  in  Wisbeach  might  be  a  good  precedent  for 
the  time  when  a  Catholic  monarch  succeeded  Elizabeth, 
and  partly  because  it  throws  a  very  singular  light  on 
Jesuit  procedure. 

The  Jesuits  submitted  that  the  clerical  prisoners  in 
England  desired  some  kind  of  canonical  leader.  Clement 
VIII.,  who  had,  like  his  great  predecessor  Sixtus  v.,  had 
some  alarming  experience  of  the  state  of  the  Jesuits  (as 
we  shall  see  later),  required  proof  of  this.  They  brought 
before  him  certain  English  priests,  friendly  to  themselves, 
who  assured  the  Pope  that  there  was  no  discord  in  their 


156  THE  JESUITS 

ranks  in  England :  the  largfeness  of  their  "mental 
reservation  "  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  a  later 
inquiry  showed  that  343  out  of  the  400  priests  in  England 
were  against  the  Jesuit  proposal.  The  Pope  was  de- 
ceived, and  he  yielded  to  Parsons's  suggestion  to  make 
George  Blackwell,  a  former  student  under  the  Jesuits, 
"  Archpriest  "  of  the  English  clergy.  Blackwell  went  to 
England  to  exercise  this  newly  invented  authority,  and 
Parsons  returned  to  his  plots.  He  had  then  several 
secretaries  to  conduct  his  enormous  correspondence,  and 
he  was  so  sure  of  a  Catholic  succession  to  the  throne  that 
he  marked  out  various  houses  in  London  for  use  as 
Jesuit  colleges. 

After  a  time  there  came  to  Rome  some  of  the 
English  clergy,  saying  that  they  had  received  the 
Archpriest  with  amazement,  and  begging  the  Pope  to 
withdraw  him.  The  Pope  was  not  in  Rome,  and 
Parsons  took  care  that  they  should  not  reach  him.  He 
induced  the  papal  authorities  to  arrest  them,  as  rebels, 
and  lodge  them  in  the  college  controlled  by  the  Jesuits ; 
and  when  they  persisted  in  appealing  to  a  Roman 
tribunal,  he  secured  the  dismissal  of  the  appeal.  Later, 
a  fresh  batch  of  appellants  came  to  Rome,  and  Parsons 
knew  that  their  evidence  would  be  very  damning.  Not 
only  had  the  Jesuits,  who  controlled  the  moneys  gathered 
for  the  support  of  the  imprisoned  priests,  attempted  to 
use  this  power  to  subdue  them,  but  when  the  Tope  had 
ordered  that  no  more  pamphlets  should  be  written  on  the 
subject,  Blackwell  had  refrained  from  publishing  the 
decree  until  Parsons  had  time  to  issue  one  ;  and  this 
one  mendaciously  purported  to  have  been  written  by 
some  "priests  united  in  due  subordination  to  the  Arch- 
priest." The  secular  priests  had  appealed  to  Elizabeth, 
and  she  had  actually  heard  and  set  four  of  them  at 
liberty,   in  order  that  they  might  plead   their  cause  at 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN  ENGLAND         157 

Rome.  They  now  had  the  support  of  the  French 
embassy,  and,  in  spite  of  all  the  libels  which  Parsons 
circulated  concerning  them  and  the  English  clergy 
generally,  they  won  a  partial  victory.  Blackwell  was 
to  remain  Archpriest,  but  he  was  not  to  consult  the 
Jesuits. 

From  this  domestic  but  instructive  feud  we  return 
to  the  action  of  the  Jesuits  in  England.  Under  ten 
different  names  Garnet  had  continued,  amid  a  hundred 
adventures,  to  elude  his  pursuers,  and  his  colleagues 
were  only  a  little  less  active.  We  cannot,  however,  do 
more  here  than  attempt  to  trace  their  share  in  the 
political  scheming  which  culminated  in  the  Gunpowder 
Plot.  The  Jesuits  in  England  carried  out  the  suggestion 
of  Parsons  that,  instead  of  putting  their  faith  in  the 
eventual  accession  and  conversion  of  James  of  Scotland, 
they  should  teach  the  Catholics  to  look  to  Philip.  In 
December  1601  we  find  Garnet  meeting  Catesby, 
Tresham,  and  Winter  in  the  house  of  Anne  Vaux  at 
Enfield  Chase,  and  discussing  the  question  of  a  mission 
to  Spain.  The  issue  of  it  was  that  Winter  and  Father 
Greenway  went  to  Madrid,  and  obtained  a  large  sum  of 
money  from  Philip  iii.  It  was  intended  for  the  relief 
of  the  poor  Catholics,  Garnet  afterwards  said  :  in  which 
case  we  do  not  very  well  understand  why  he  "  misliked  " 
the  expedition,  as  he  says. 

Elizabeth  died  on  24th  March  1603,  and  James 
Stuart  peacefully  acceded  to  the  throne.  We  need  not 
stop  to  consider  the  shifts  by  which  Parsons  now  sought 
the  favour  of  James  ;  he  had,  he  boldly  and  untruthfully 
said,  abandoned  the  idea  of  a  Spanish  succession  at  the 
death  of  Philip  11.  in  1 598.  James  was  not  to  be  deceived, 
and,  in  his  negotiations  with  Rome,  made  a  point 
of  having  the  Jesuits  excluded.  The  conflicting  counsels 
in   regard   to  the   Catholics    ended,  as  is  known,   in  a 


158  THE  JESUITS 

decision  to  tolerate  lay  Catholics,  but  not  priests, 
and  the  bitter  agitation  began  which  led  up  to  the 
famous  plot.  Catesby  and  Winter  conceived  the  horrible 
idea  of  blowing  up  the  Parliament  House  when  the 
King,  the  Royal  Family,  and  the  Lords  and  Commons 
were  assembled  in  it  for  the  opening  of  Parliament. 
Guy  Fawkes,  Thomas  Percy,  and  J.  Wright  were 
admitted  to  the  secret,  and  in  March  1604  they  met 
and  swore  to  accomplish  the  plot.  In  an  adjoining 
room  a  priest  said  mass  for  them,  and  Fawkes  and 
Winter  afterwards  said  that  this  priest  was  Father 
Gerard  ;  Gerard,  however,  denied  this,  and  the  point 
is  not  important,  since  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that 
Gerard  was  ever  admitted  to  the  secret,  and  no  priest 
knew  of  the  plot  until  long  afterwards.  Gerard's  idea 
was  that  toleration  could  be  bought,  but  he  failed  even 
to  find  the  money.  For  more  than  a  year  and  a  half 
the  conspirators  brooded  over  their  ghastly  scheme,  and 
made  preparations  for  carrying  it  out ;  and  on  5th 
November  1605  Fawkes  was  arrested  in  the  cellar 
beneath  the  House  beside  a  mass  of  powder. 

It  is  agreed  that  no  Jesuit  inspired  this  plot ;  the 
point  we  have  to  determine  is  whether  the  Jesuits 
were  aware  of  the  plot  and  acquiesced  in  it  by  their 
silence.  The  whole  subject  has  been  fully  and  re- 
peatedly discussed,  and  I  propose  to  rely  almost  entirely 
on  the  "Declarations"  which  Father  Garnet  addressed 
to  the  authorities  during  his  trial  and  imprisonment.^ 
The  living  Jesuit,  Father  Gerard,  may  express  an 
ingenuous  doubt  whether  there  ever  was  a  Gunpowder 
Plot  at  all ;  his  predecessor  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
who  ought  to  know,  was  concerned  only  to  extricate 
himself,  by  a  series  of  confessions,  evasions,  and  untruths 
to    which  no    parallel    can  be    found   in    the   history  of 

^  They  were  published  in  the  English  Historical  Review,  July  1888. 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN   ENGLAND         159 

martyrs,  from  the  very  grave  moral  and  legal  charge 
of  having  known  that  this  horrible  slaughter  was 
contemplated  and  made  no  effort  to  disclose  or 
prevent  it. 

Garnet  confesses  that  on  9th  June  1605  Catesby 
came  to  his  lodging,  at  a  costermonger's  house  in 
Thames  Street,  and,  "finding  me  alone,"  asked  if,  "in 
case  it  were  lawful  to  kill  a  person  or  persons,  it  were 
necessary  to  regard  the  innocents  who  were  present." 
The  Jesuit  replied  that  the  killing  of  innocent  people 
in  a  lawful  attack  upon  others  was  not  immoral ;  he 
pointed  out  that  soldiers  had  often,  in  besieging  a  town, 
to  slay  the  civilian  with  the  soldier.  He  professes  in 
his  declaration  that  he  had  no  idea  that  Catesby  had 
in  mind  an  actual  plot  to  be  carried  out  in  England. 
He  had  written  to  Parsons  a  few  weeks  before  that 
many  of  the  Catholic  laymen  were  "offended  with  the 
Jesuits"  on  the  ground  that  they  "hindered  forcible 
enterprises  " ;  and  he  would  have  us  believe  that  when 
one  of  these  laymen,  whose  character  he  knew  well, 
finding  him  alone,  puts  to  him  a  singularly  abstract 
question  of  this  nature,  it  does  not  even  occur  to  him 
that  he  has  a  "forcible  enterprise"  in  mind.  When 
Catesby  was  leaving,  however,  he  assured  Garnet  that 
he  would  under  no  circumstances  betray  that  he  had 
consulted  the  Jesuit.  Even  then  the  innocent  Jesuit 
failed  to  understand,  and  it  was  only  on  reflection,  he 
says,  that  he  thought  it  possible  that  Catesby  was 
plotting.  He  therefore  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to 
"admonish"  Catesby,  the  next  time  he  met  him,  that 
he  "must  first  look  to  the  lawfulness  of  the  act  itself, 
and  then  he  must  not  have  so  little  regard  of  innocence 
that  he  spare  not  friends  and  necessary  persons  for  a 
Commonwealth,  and  told  him  what  charge  we  had  of 
all  quietness,  and  to  procure  the  like  in  others." 


i6o  THE  JESUITS 

Even  if  we  suppose  that  this  "admonition"  was 
really  given  to  Catesby  as  he  describes  it — one  hesitates, 
because  Garnet's  conduct  throughout  is  a  classical 
example  of  casuistic  perversion  of  truth — we  can  readily 
believe  that  Catesby  took  it  very  lightly,  as  Garnet 
says.  Even  if  we  could  bring  ourselves  to  admit  that 
Garnet  at  the  secret  interview  saw  only  an  innocent  and 
abstract  moral  issue,  such  as  might  be  discussed  in  an 
open  drawing-room,  in  Catesby's  question,  and  therefore 
unwittingly  sanctioned  a  bloody  massacre,  it  is  certain 
that  he  perceived  on  reflection  that  some  such  massacre 
was  contemplated ;  yet  he  can  only  warn  him  to  have 
regard  for  "friends  and  necessary  persons,"  and  feebly 
remind  him  of  their  duty  of  "quietness."  Indeed  in 
July,  he  confesses,  he  received  "a  very  earnest  letter" 
from  General  Acquaviva,  who  said,  on  behalf  of  the 
Pope,  that  they  were  vaguely  conscious  that  something 
was  contemplated  by  the  English  Catholics,  and  that 
the  Pope  and  Acquaviva  himself  rigorously  forbade  any 
recourse  to  violence,  as  it  would  do  more  harm  than 
good.  He  showed  this  letter  to  Catesby,  because,  he 
says,  "  I  doubted  he  had  some  device  in  his  head." 
Catesby  admitted  that  he  had,  and  offered  to  tell  it  to 
him.  He  refused  to  hear  it,  and  merely  stipulated  that 
a  layman  should  be  sent  to  the  Continent  to  learn  if 
it  were  true  that  the  Pope  would  not  disapprove :  a 
mission  which,  as  Garnet  knew,  had  no  issue. 

This  last  interview  with  Catesby  occurred  In  the 
latter  half  of  July,  more  than  two  months  before  the 
proposed  opening  of  Parliament  (3rd  October).  By 
that  time,  therefore.  Garnet  was  quite  aware,  without 
the  least  reference  to  the  seal  of  confession,  that  the 
Catholic  laity  contemplated  some  deed  which  directly 
aimed  at  taking  life  on  so  large  a  scale  that  the 
innocent   would    suffer    with    the   guilty,    and   it    would 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN   ENGLAND         i6i 

need  very  little  reflection  to  foresee  that  this  deed 
was  directed  at  the  court  or  the  Parliament,  or  both. 
Further,  in  order  not  to  be  obliged  formally  to  condemn 
it,  he  refused,  contrary  to  his  plainest  duty,  to  learn  the 
details  of  it.  The  clue  to  his  frame  of  mind  seems 
to  be  given  in  his  letter  to  Parsons  in  May.  The 
laymen  were  "offended  with  the  Jesuits"  because 
they  would  not  consent  to  "forcible  enterprises";  he 
would  therefore  not  interfere  with  their  plot.  He 
could,  without  violation  of  any  sacramental  confidence, 
because  Catesby's  admission  to  Father  Greenway  comes 
later,  have  prevented  the  plot  from  going  any  further, 
but  he  allowed  this  vague  horror  to  proceed,  and 
defied  the  emphatic  command  of  the  Pope  and  his 
General,  in  order  that  the  Jesuits  might  not  lose 
favour  with  the  leading  Catholic  laymen.  It  is  probable 
that  he  also  trusted  that  the  outrage  would  be  justified 
by  the  result.  Whatever  his  motives,  his  conduct 
was  shifty,  cowardly,  and  treacherous,  and  he  fitly 
died  the  death  of  a  traitor.  He  admits  later  in  his 
"Declaration"  that  he  "might  have  hindered  all" 
by  speaking  to  Catesby.  He  claims  that  he  pressed 
the  Roman  authorities,  through  Parsons,  to  send  a 
stronger  condemnation  of  plots  ;  but  we  have  a  letter 
of  his  to  Parsons,  dated  4th  September,  in  which  he 
assures  Rome  that  the  English  Catholics  are  now 
quiet  and  submissive. 

It  is  therefore  unnecessary  to  decide  whether  he 
afterwards  learned  all  the  details  of  the  plot  under  the 
seal  of  confession,  and  whether  it  was  morally  impossible 
for  him  to  disclose  such  a  communication.  The  g'uilt 
of  Henry  Garnet  is  clear  enough,  however  we  decide 
the  further  issue.  Yet  it  is  of  interest,  and  the  further 
development  may  be  briefly  recounted. 

A    few    days    after    he   had    seen    Catesby,    in    the 
II 


i62  THE  JESUITS 

latter  half  of  July,   Father  Greenway  came  to  consult 
him.     He  was  troubled  about  a  "  devise  "  that  Catesby 
had   submitted   to   him,  and  he  proposed    to  submit   it 
to  his  superior   "by  way  of  confession."     Garnet  then 
learned    the    details    of    the    plot ;    he  had    forbidden 
Catesby   to    tell    him,   but    was    willing    to   learn    them 
without    Catesby 's    knowledge.       He    pronounced    the 
plot   "horrible,"   and  said   that  Greenway   must   return 
to    Catesby    and    condemn    it.      The    Pope,    he    said, 
would  send   him   to    the   galleys  if  such    a   plot    came 
off.      He    urged    Greenway    to    dissuade    Catesby,    and 
adds :    "  so  we   parted,  yet  with    this    compact,  that    if 
ever  I  should  be  called  in  question  for  being  accessory 
unto    such    a   horrible   action,  either   by    the    Pope,   or 
by  my  superiors  beyond,  or  by  the  State  here,  I   would 
have  liberty  to  utter  all  that  passed  in  this  conference." 
He    expected    to    see    Catesby    in    October — he    could 
undoubtedly   have    seen    him    before    then — and   says : 
"  I  assuredly  had  [if  they  met]  entered  into  the  matter 
with  Mr.    Catesby,  and  perhaps  might   have    hindered 
all."     He  undoubtedly    could    have    "  hindered   all "  at 
any    moment     by    an     explicit    declaration     that     the 
plot  was  a  mortal  sin,  and   by  a  threat  of  the   Pope's 
penalties. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  relieve  Garnet  of 
the  heavy  responsibility  which  this  declaration  lays 
on  him  by  pleading  that  the  Church  binds  a  priest, 
under  the  gravest  moral  obligation,  not  to  communicate 
anything  learned  "by  way  of  confession."  In  the 
first  place.  Garnet  does  not  say  that  Greenway  learned 
the  plot  in  confession.  He  says  that  he  asked  Greenway 
this,  and  he  does  not  give  his  reply.  It  is,  in  fact, 
quite  certain  from  Garnet's  own  words  and  conduct, 
that  the  communication  was  not  made  under  the  seal 
of  confession  at  all.      If  it  were,  Garnet  had  no  power 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS   IN  ENGLAND         163 

whatever  to  speak  to  Catesby  about  it,  as  he  says 
he  intended  to  do :  Greenway  had  no  power  what- 
ever to  permit  Garnet  to  "utter  all  that  passed  in 
this  conference "  if  he  were  brought  to  task :  and 
Garnet  committed  a  mortal  sin  and  cowardly  sacrilege 
in  eventually  revealing  that  he  had  heard  of  the  plot 
from  Greenway.  There  are  obscure  points  about  the 
theological  doctrine  of  the  "seal,"  but  these  things 
are  not  obscure  or  disputed,  Catesby  told  Greenway 
in  ordinary  confidence,  as  he  offered  to  tell  Garnet. 
Even  if  it  had  been  otherwise,  Garnet's  plain  duty 
was  to  see  that  his  colleague  approached  Catesby 
and  made  it  a  matter  of  conscience  to  abstain  from  such 
a  design. 

It  is,  in  the  next  place,  even  clearer  that  the  com- 
munication made  by  Greenway  to  Garnet  did  not  come 
under  the  seal  of  confession.     Garnet  plainly  intimates 
that  there  was  no  confession    at    all,  and  merely  hints 
that  it  might  be  regarded  as  forming  part  of  some  future 
confession.     The  teaching  of  moral  theologians  is  clear 
that  a  consultation  for  the  sake  of  direction  does  not, 
unless  it  be  intended  as  "a  preparation  for  confession," 
come  under  the  seal.^     Greenway  was  not  a  penitent  at 
all,  and  even  a  sinner  cannot  put  a  confessor  under  the 
seal  when  he  chooses  ;    he  must  confess  his    sins.      In 
any    case,    the    above    considerations    apply    here   also. 
Garnet   would    have    no    right    whatever    to    approach 
Catesby  if  he  learned  the  plot  in  confession  ;  Greenway 
had  no  right  whatever  to  name  Catesby  in  a  confession  ; 
Garnet    would    have    no    right    to    say,    in    confession, 
whether  he   would   or  would   not   listen  to  this  "peni- 
tent" ;    and    Garnet    would    most    decidedly    have    no 
rio-ht   to    claim    permission    to    break    the    seal    if    his 

1  So  the  chief  Jesuit  manual  now  in  use,  Lehmkuhl's  Theologia  Moralis, 
i.  330  ;  from  which  I  was  taught  casuistry. 


i64  THE  JESUITS 

neck  were  endangered.  To  introduce  "  the  seal  of 
confession "  is  to  make  Garnet's  conduct  worse  than 
ever. 

It  is  plain  that  Garnet  and  Green  way  feared  to 
offend  the  laity  by  thwarting  them,  and  it  is  probable 
that  they  thought  the  slaughter  might  help  their  cause. 
They  locked  the  secret  in  their  hearts,  and  nervously 
went  about  their  work.  In  August  Garnet  went  to  the 
north,  and  in  December,  when  the  conspirators  were 
slain  and  Greenway  and  Gerard  had  fled  to  the  Continent, 
he  sought  refuge  at  Hinlip  Castle,  near  Worcester,  with 
Father  Oldcorne.  They  were  betrayed  by  a  Catholic 
and  discovered,  after  a  full  week's  search  of  the  castle. 
An  astute  jailer  then  tricked  Garnet  into  a  conversation 
with  his  colleague,  and  learned  that  there  was  one  man 
who  could  connect  him  with  the  plot.  In  the  presence 
of  the  rack  he  then  declared  that  he  was  permitted  to 
speak  in  such  an  emergency,  and  he  related  the 
"  conference  "  with  Greenway.  He  remained  shifty  and 
mendacious  to  the  end,  using  the  doctrine  of  mental 
reservation  with  an  appalling  flippancy.  When  charged 
with  writing  a  letter  to  Greenway,  he  swore  "on  his 
priesthood,"  and  without  reservation,  that  he  had  not 
written  it ;  and  the  Council  then  showed  him  the  letter, 
which  they  had  intercepted.  He  was  justly,  if  barbar- 
ously, executed  on  3rd  May,  on  the  ground  of  the  general 
knowledge  he  had  of  the  plot  from  Catesby  himself. 
Equivocal  to  the  end,  he  declared  to  the  authorities 
that  he  had  sinned  against  God  and  the  king  in  not 
revealing  the  plot ;  while  to  the  Catholic  Anne  Vaux 
he  pleaded  that  "it  was  not  his  part  to  disclose 
it."  He  did  not  represent  it  as  matter  heard  in 
confession. 

As  the  innocent  and  estimable  Oldcorne  had  been 
executed  on  7th  April,  the  Jesuit  mission  was  over  for  a 


THE  EARLY  JESUITS  IN  ENGLAND         165 

time,  and  the  hopes  of  Catholicism  blasted.  Crdtineau- 
Joly  gives  an  inaccurate  list  of  seven  Jesuits  who 
"perished"  under  Elizabeth,  and  airily  adds  "a  hundred 
others."  The  truth  is  that  from  1580  to  1606  there  had 
only  been  a  score  of  Jesuits  in  England,  even  including 
the  secular  priests  who  were  permitted  to  take  the  vows 
in  prison  in  order  that  their  martyrdoms  might  illumine 
the  chronicle  of  the  Society  ;  that  only  seven  of  these, 
including  the  seculars  I  have  mentioned,  were  put  to 
death  ;  and  that  of  the  five  regularly  admitted  Jesuits 
who  were  put  to  death,  two  obtained  a  remission  of 
punishment  by  giving  information.  Yet  their  story  is, 
on  the  whole,  a  story  of  heroism  thwarted  by  political 
intrigue. 

Two  other  Jesuits,  Hunt  and  Worthington,  had 
arrived  before  the  plot,  and  in  1607  others  began  again 
to  penetrate  the  defences  of  the  country.  The  houses 
of  wealthy  Catholics  were  no  longer  available  as  they 
had  been,  and  the  life  of  the  missionary  was  harder  than 
ever  ;  but  the  colleges  on  the  Continent  continued  to 
send  their  ardent  apostles  into  the  field,  and  by  16 15, 
when  Acquaviva  died,  there  are  said  to  have  been  sixty- 
eight  Jesuits  in  England.  The  prestige  of  Parsons  had 
fallen  low,  but  he  remained,  intriguing,  on  the  Continent. 
For  some  years  students  had  been  passing  from  the 
Jesuits  to  the  Benedictines,  and  in  1602,  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  Parsons,  the  Benedictines  obtained  from 
the  Pope  the  right  to  work  in  England.  Clement  viii. 
had  received  so  many  complaints  that  he  threatened  to 
expel  Parsons  from  Rome,  and  Parsons,  at  a  hint  given 
him  by  Acquaviva,  went  to  Naples  for  the  advantage  of 
his  health,  and  remained  there  until  the  death  of  Clement. 
He  returned  with  the  accession  of  Paul  v.  in  1605,  and 
continued  to  fight  the  secular  clergy  in  regard  to  the 
archpriest.     The  extraordinary  course  of  deception  and 


i66  THE  JESUITS 

intrigue  which  he  maintained  until  his  death  in  1610 
must  be  read  in  the  spirited  narrative  of  Father  Taunton. 
His  death  closes  the  chief  interest  of  the  English  mission 
under  Acquaviva,  and  we  will  return  to  the  struggling 
apostles  at  a  later  stage. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM 

As  the  long  reign  of  General  Acquaviva  was  followed 
by  the  almost  equally  long  reign  of  General  Vitelleschi. 
it  will  be  convenient  once  more  to  take  his  tenure  of 
office  as  a  stage  in  the  history  of  the  Society,  and  con- 
sider the  action  of  the  fathers  in  their  various  provinces. 
The  death  of  Vitelleschi,  in  1645,  will  then  complete  the 
first  century  from  the  establishment  of  the  Society,  and 
we  may  pause  to  deduce  from  the  enormous  mass  of 
detail  a  few  general  truths  in  regard  to  Jesuit  character. 
From  that  point  onward  I  propose  to  follow  the  fortunes 
of  the  Society  continuously  in  each  province  down  to 
the  year  of  its  suppression  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  election  of  Father  Mutio  Vitelleschi  did  not 
pass  without  incident.  The  Spanish  electors  deter- 
mined to  make  an  effort  to  recover  the  supreme  office 
from  the  Italians,  and  their  tactics  were  not  edifying. 
When  they  reached  Rome,  at  an  early  date,  they  learned 
that  Vitelleschi  was  the  favoured  candidate,  and  they 
proceeded  to  describe  him  to  the  various  voters,  as  they 
arrived,  in  most  uncomplimentary  language.  He  seems 
to  have  been  a  mild  and  inoffensive  old  man,  of  little 
ability  and  no  distinction,  a  Roman  by  birth.  There 
is,  doubtless,  a  good  deal  of  exaggeration  in  the 
rancorous  charge  of  the  Spaniards,  that  he  was 
worldly  and  ambitious   and    had   hitherto    been    chiefly 

occupied  with  the  cultivation  of  wealthy  ladies.     When 

167 


i68  THE  JESUITS 

these  statements  did  not  seem  to  affect  his  prospect 
of  election,  the  Spanish  fathers  appealed  to  the  Spanish 
and  French  ambassadors ;  and,  when  the  ambassadors 
declined  to  assist  them,  they  sought  the  Pope  and 
confided  to  him  the  vices  of  Father  Vitelleschi.  Paul  v. 
genially  dismissed  them  with  an  assurance  that,  if  he 
were  such  as  they  described  him,  he  could  have  no  hope 
of  securing  the  votes  of  forty  of  the  shrewdest  and  most 
religious  members  of  the  Society.  In  point  of  fact, 
he  received  thirty-nine  votes,  and  he  wisely  dissuaded 
the  Congregation  from  inflicting  on  the  Spaniards 
the  punishment  which  his  admirers  demanded.  I  may 
add  that  it  now  took  more  than  a  hundred  decrees  of 
the  Congregation  to  regulate  the  disorderly  life  of  the 
Society ;  though  we  shall  still  find  it  singularly  un- 
affected by  this  mass  of  stern  legislation. 

The  long  generalship  of  Mutio  Vitelleschi  (1615- 
1645)  is,  says  Cretineau-Joly,  "a  monotonous  stretch 
of  felicity."  When,  however,  we  turn  to  the  official 
Jesuit  historian,  Cordara,  who  continues  the  Historia 
Sociatatis,  we  find  that  the  year  which  immediately 
followed  the  election  was  marked  by  serious  disturbances 
or  scandals  at  Castellone,  Genoa,  Artois,  Paris,  Lyons, 
Freiburg,  and  Worms,  and  in  Sicily,  Beam,  Castile, 
Poland,  and  Hesse-Cassel.  We  shall  further  see  that 
the  monotony  of  the  thirty  years  is  relieved  by  a 
scandalous  bankruptcy  of  the  fathers  at  Seville,  a 
temporary  expulsion  from  Malta,  Bohemia,  and 
Hungary,  a  combined  attack  upon  the  Society  by  the 
leading  universities  of  Europe,  the  publication  of  the 
Secret  Instritctions,  the  complete  extinction  of  the 
great  Japanese  mission  and  the  new  mission  in  Abyssinia, 
and  a  quite  normal  succession  of  scandals  and  tribula- 
tions in  France  and  Catholic  Germany.  The  serious 
historian    cannot    therefore    dismiss    the   generalship   of 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       169 

Vitelleschi  with  a  short  assurance  that  it  was  a  period 
of  virtue,  heroism,  and  prosperity.  We  must,  as  before, 
carefully  consider  the  life  of  the  Society  in  each  of  its 
provinces. 

The  record  of  the  Society  in  Italy  is  an  uninteresting 
chronicle  of  small  scandals  and  unobtrusive  work. 
The  former  class  may  be  briefly  illustrated  by  the 
adventures  of  the  Neapolitan  Jesuit,  Father  Onufrio  de 
Vermi,  in  the  year  1623.  The  historian  tells  us  that 
the  honours  awarded  him  by  his  illustrious  penitent  the 
Count  d'Elda  so  inflated  his  spirit  that  he  rebelled 
against  his  authorities.  Passing  over  to  Spain,  he 
contrived  to  secure  a  bishopric  from  the  queen,  and 
was  expelled  from  the  Society  on  the  charge  of  ambition. 
It  is  needless  to  quote  such  trifles  as  these  from  the 
chronicles.  The  outstanding  event  at  Rome  under 
the  rule  of  Vitelleschi  was  the  canonisation  of  Ignatius 
and  Xavier  in  1622.  Their  place  in  the  distinguished 
gallery  it  would  be  invidious  to  question,  but  the  curious 
student  of  such  matters  would  find  it  interesting  to 
trace  the  appearance  of  the  miracles  which  were  needed 
to  secure  canonisation  for  them.  In  the  case  of  Xavier, 
whose  life  was  spent  in  the  Far  East,  it  would  be  easy 
to  adduce  evidence  of  miracles,  and  difficult  to  examine 
it.  The  miracles  of  Ignatius  are  more  interesting. 
When  Ribadeneira,  who  knew  him,  first  wrote  his  life, 
he  seemed  not  to  have  heard  of  any  miracles ;  when, 
however,  forty  years  later,  the  question  of  canonisation 
was  mooted.  Father  Ribadeneira  corrected  his  defect 
by  publishing  a  shorter  life  which  shone  with  miracles. 
As  time  went  on,  the  monarchs  of  Europe — wherever 
the  Jesuits  had  influence — began  to  press  the  Pope  to 
canonise  Ignatius  and  Xavier,  and  in  1622  the  Jesuits 
obtained  that  supreme  assurance  of  the  sanctity  of  their 
founders.      It  need  hardly  be  said  that  they  illuminated 


170  THE  JESUITS 

Europe  with  their  festivities,  and  made  considerable 
profit  by  the  honour,  which  they  represented  as  un- 
sought by  themselves. 

The  island  of  Malta  was  the  scene  of  one  of  the 
storms  which  broke  upon  the  Society  in  this  half- 
century.  The  fathers  had  established  a  college  at 
Lavaletta  in  1592,  and  prospered  there  until  1632, 
when  a  sudden  and  mysterious  tempest  swept  them, 
for  a  time,  out  of  the  island.  The  Jesuit  version  of  the 
adventure  is  that  the  Grand  Master  Lascaris  had 
attempted  to  curb  the  well-known  licence  of  the  knights 
and  had,  at  their  protest,  thrown  the  responsibility  of 
the  reform  on  the  Jesuits.  When  the  carnival  arrived, 
and  the  knights  were  hampered  in  their  amusements, 
some  of  them  took  the  revenge  of  masquerading  as 
Jesuits  in  the  gay  throng  ;  and  when  the  Master  im- 
prisoned them,  at  the  entreaty  of  the  Jesuits,  they 
forced  the  doors  of  the  jail  and  compelled  Lascaris  to 
exile  the  Jesuits.  This  story  is  not  implausable,  but  we 
are  equally  bound  to  notice  the  different  version  put 
forward  by  their  opponents.  They  say  that  the  Jesuits 
had  incurred  general  contempt  by  hiding  great  stores 
of  food  in  their  house  during  a  famine  (as  we  have  seen 
them  do  in  Paris)  and  by  their  indulgence  in  vice. 
One  is  disposed  to  think  that  the  former  charge  cannot 
be  entirely  devoid  of  foundation.  It  is  singular  that, 
when  the  French  king,  at  the  request  of  the  French 
Jesuits,  forced  the  knights  to  readmit  the  fathers,  the 
two  leading  Jesuits  were  not  suffered  to  return  to  the 
island. 

The  most  serious  event  of  the  half-century  was, 
however,  the  bankruptcy  of  one  of  the  Jesuit  houses  at 
Seville,  and  in  this  case  we  have  serious  independent 
evidence.  The  condition  of  the  Spanish  province 
evidently  remained  unchanged  in  spite  of  "  visitations  " 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       171 

from  Rome  and  decrees    of   the  Congregation.     Their 
generous  patron  PhiHp    iil,  whose  dominion  they  had 
so  materially  helped  to  enlarge,  died  in   162 1,  but  his 
successor  Philip  iv.  was  even  more  generous  to  them. 
They   prospered,    and    continued   to    deteriorate.     We 
may  not  be  disposed  to  admit  implicitly  all  the  sordid 
stories  about  them  which  we  find  in  the  Teairo  Jesuitico, 
one  of  the  fiercest  anti- Jesuit  works  of  the  period,'  but 
we  have  independent  evidence  of  such  episodes  as  the 
murder  of  a    Spanish    Jesuit   by  an    injured    husband. 
Instead,  however,   of   wasting   time    on    these   isolated 
disorders,  it  will  be  enough  to  examine  the  story  of  the 
famous  bankruptcy. 

One  of  the  seven  residences  which  the  fathers  had 
at  Seville  failed  in  1644,  and  acknowledged  a  debt  of 
two  and  a  quarter  million  francs.  The  Jesuit  system, 
it  may  be  recalled,  was  to  place  the  administration  of 
the  house  in  the  hands  of  a  "  Lay  Coadjutor"  (or  lay- 
brother,  who  had  not  made  a  vow  of  poverty),  and  their 
defence  in  this  singular  case  is  that  Brother  Villar, 
who  held  this  charge  at  Seville,  borrowed  large  sums 
of  money  and  invested  them  in  shipping  and  other 
concerns,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  fathers.  His 
speculations  proved  disastrous,  and  the  fathers  found 
themselves  bankrupt.  Cretineau-Joly  genially  closes 
the  episode  with  an  assurance  that  the  fathers  found 
the  money  and  expelled  the  offending  brother  from  the 

fraternity. 

That  the  brother  was  expelled  is  quite  certain,  but 
I  can  find  no  trace  that  the  Jesuits,  in  spite  of  their  great 
collective    wealth    in    Spain,    ever    paid    more   than    a 

1  This  rare  and  curious  work,  which  was  often  condemned  and  burned 
in  subsequent  years,  was  pubHshed  in  1654,  and  affords  a  particularly 
unpleasant  picture  of  the  Spanish  Jesuits.  It  was  attributed  to  a  dis- 
tinguished Dominican  monk.  He  denied  the  authorship,  but  many  believe 
that  the  denial  was  merely  a  matter  of  policy. 


172  THE  JESUITS 

partial  dividend,  and  the  whole  of  the  circumstances 
merit  consideration.  That  we  should  be  asked  to 
believe  that  a  community  of  Spanish  Jesuits,  the 
keenest  business-men  in  the  whole  Society,  suffered  a 
lay  brother  to  conduct  vast  operations,  and  to  borrow 
large  sums  from  their  own  followers  in  Seville,  without 
their  having-  the  least  knowledgre  how  he  conducted 
their  affairs,  is  little  short  of  impertinence.  We  have, 
however,  positive  knowledge  that  the  Jesuit  version  is 
most  untruthful.  Not  only  does  Bishop  Palafox,  one 
of  their  most  conscientious  adversaries,  give  a  different 
version  in  his  second  letter  to  Pope  Innocent  x.,  but  a 
paper  written  by  one  of  the  creditors  and  submitted  to 
the  King  of  Spain  (who  favoured  the  Jesuits)  has 
survived,  and  must  command  our  confidence.  From 
this  memoir  or  petition,  which  is  reproduced  in  the 
Annales  de  la  SocUti  des  soi-disans  Jdsuites  (iii.  976), 
I  propose  to  take  the  facts  of  the  scandal. 

From  communities  of  nuns  and  the  pious  laity  of 
the  town,  both  rich  and  poor,  Villar  had  borrowed  sums 
amounting  in  all  to  450,000  ducats,  and  invested  them 
in  unwise  speculations.  Villar  protested  throughout 
that  he  had  acted  under  the  directions  of  the  fathers, 
and  it  would  be  quite  impossible  for  him  to  borrow  so 
extensively  among  their  admirers  without  their  knowing 
it ;  even  if  we  could  suppose  that,  contrary  to  all 
custom,  they  left  their  affairs  blindly  in  the  hands  of 
a  lay-brother.  In  1644  the  fathers  summoned  their 
creditors,  declared  themselves  bankrupt,  and  proposed 
a  settlement.  Some  of  the  creditors  endeavoured  to 
secure  a  payment  in  full  by  representing  that  the 
Jesuits  would  suffer  severely  in  credit  if  they  did  not 
draw  on  the  immense  resources  of  their  Society  to  dis- 
charge the  debt.  "  The  loss  of  our  credit  does  not 
trouble  me,"  said  the  rector;  "as  the  proverb  says,  the 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       173 

raven  cannot  be  blacker  than  its  wings."  The  creditors, 
however,  refused  to  yield,  and  a  receiver  was  appointed. 
The  petition  to  the  king  affirms  that  this  official  found 
among  their  papers  certain  letters  which  plainly  showed 
that  they  had  directed  Villar,  and  secret  instructions  for 
the  dishonest  diversion  of  legacies  they  had  received 
on  condition  of  paying  out  certain  monies. 

The  next  step  of  the  Jesuits  was  to  secure  the 
appointment  of  a  judge  who  would  favour  themselves. 
Though  there  was  grave  distress  among  the  poorer, 
creditors,  this  official  declared  that  three-fourths  of  the 
Jesuit  assets  were  sacred  funds,  and  that  little  remained 
for  division.  The  creditors  appealed  to  the  Royal 
Council,  the  judge  was  dismissed  for  corrupt  procedure, 
and  the  whole  of  the  property  was  declared  to  be  "lay" 
for  the  purpose  of  the  case.  Indeed,  the  higher  court 
declared  that  the  action  of  the  Jesuits  was  "infamous," 
and  would,  on  the  part  of  a  private  individual,  merit  a 
capital  sentence.  Yet  in  1647  we  find  this  petitioner 
still  appealing  for  a  discharge  of  the  debt,  and  com- 
plaining that  the  Jesuits  are  trying  to  induce  the  more 
pious  of  their  creditors  to  agree  to  a  composition. 

The  significance  of  this  ugly  episode  does  not 
consist  in  its  illustration  of  the  conduct  of  a  single 
community  of  Jesuits.  As  such  it  would  not  be  entitled 
to  lengthy  consideration  in  serious  history.  The  more 
unpleasant  feature  is  that  it  involves  the  whole  of  the 
Jesuits  of  Castile,  and,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that — the 
petitioner  says — they  owed  a  collective  debt  of  two 
million  ducats,  they  formed  one  of  the  most  numerous 
and  wealthy  provinces  of  the  Society  and  dwelt  in  most 
imposing  establishments.  They  clearly  trusted  that 
their  colleagues  would  evade  the  discharge  of  a  legiti- 
mate debt,  and  they  incurred  a  storm  of  anger  and 
disdain.     The  Roman  house  itself  had  taken  vast  sums 


174  THE  JESUITS 

from  Spain,  yet  it  permitted  the  local  Jesuits  to  resist 
their  obligations  for  several  years,  relying  on  a  purely 
legal  and  worldly  view  of  the  local  responsibility. 

The  Jesuits  of  Portgual,  which  was  still  under  the 
dominion  of  Spain,  exhibit  the  same  prosperity  and 
worldly  temper,  and  their  behaviour  in  connection  with 
the  revolution  of  1640  was  sinuous  and  unattractive. 
In  1635,  when  the  agitation  began  for  the  restoration 
of  the  Portuguese  throne,  they  punished  some  of  their 
number  who  sided  with  the  revolutionaries.  As  time 
went  on,  however,  and  the  movement  gathered  strength, 
they  wavered  and  temporised  in  the  most  amusing 
fashion  ;  and  so  shrewdly  did  they  follow  the  national 
movement  that  the  successful  completion  of  the  revolu- 
tion in  1640  found  them  entirely  on  the  side  of  the 
Portuguese  people. 

When  we  survey  the  thirty  years'  life  of  the  Society 
in  France  under  the  rule  of  Vitelleschi,  we  get  much  the 
same  impression  of  poor  character,  or  character  warped 
by  casuistry.  Under  so  Catholic  a  monarch  as  Louis 
XIII.  and  so  powerful  a  statesman  as  Richelieu  we  do 
not  expect  to  find  any  of  the  large  political  intrigue  in 
which  they  had  indulged  in  earlier  years.  We  find  no 
grave  scandal,  no  exalted  virtue,  no  religious  heroism. 
Their  life  is  a  chronicle  of  assiduous  teaching  and 
ministration,  punctuated  by  unworthy  manoeuvres  here 
and  there  to  obtain  power  or  repress  rivals,  and  never 
rising  above  mediocrity.  A  few  words  on  their 
relations  to  the  court  and  Richelieu,  to  the  bishops 
and  universities,  and  to  new  reformers  like  Cardinal 
de  B^rulle  and  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  will  sujffice  for  our 
purpose. 

The  petty  intrigues  and  successive  dismissals  of  the 
Jesuit  confessors  to  the  court  are  not  of  sufficient 
consequence    for    us    to    linger   over    them.       In     1624 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       175 

Richelieu  became    first  minister  of   France  and  put  an 
end  to  their  political  pretensions.     In  that  year  they  had 
again  incurred  the  anger  of  the  university.      Henri    de 
Bourbon,     illegitimate    son    of    Henry    iv.,    had    been 
appointed  bishop  of  Metz.      He  had  been  educated  by 
the    Jesuits,    and    was    induced    to    make    his    "act    of 
theology  "  in  their  college,  instead  of  at  the  Sorbonne,  as 
was  customary,  and  the  whole  court  had  been  attracted 
to    and    entertained    in    the    college.      Richelieu    had, 
however,    no    idea   of    espousing    the    quarrel    of    the 
university  ;  he  would  quickly  enough  come  into  conflict 
with  the  Jesuits,  as  he  was  determined  to  reverse  at  the 
first    opportunity  the    pro-Spanish    policy  of   Marie    de 
Medici  and  her  clerical  advisers.      His  first  act  was  to 
drive  the  Pope's  troops  out  of  the  Valtelline  and  defy 
Spain,    and    the     Jesuits    contented    themselves    with 
contributing    anonymously    to    the    shower    of   violent 
ultramontane  pamphlets  which  now  fell  on  the  minister. 
Two  of  them  especially,  written  (it  seems)  by  Father 
Keller,  the  Jesuit  confessor  of  Maximilian  of  Bavaria, 
and  entitled  Mysteria  Politica  and  Admonitio  ad  Rege7iz 
Ckristianissi7?tum,    gave    him    great   annoyance.     They 
were    condemned    and    burned,    together   with    Father 
Santarelli's  De  Hceresi  (1626),  but  Richelieu  was  almost 
exhausted  by  the  violence  of  the  first  storm  his  policy 
brought  upon  him,  and  he  did    not    take  the    extreme 
measure    against    the    Jesuits    which    he    was   said    to 
contemplate.      It    is    clear  that  they  realised  his  power 
and  resolved  to  be  discreet.     After  a  fruitless  appeal  to 
the  young  king  against  him,   they  signed  a  series   of 
propositions  drawn  up  by  the  Sorbonne,  and  resigned 
themselves  to  the  patriotic  policy  of  the  great  minister. 

The  position  of  the  Jesuits  during  the  next  two 
decades  was  one  of  great  prosperity  but  acute  dissatis- 
faction, on  account  of  their  political  impotence.     They 


176  THE  JESUITS 

had  (in  1627)  13,195  pupils  in  their  schools  in  the  Paris 
province  alone,  and  more  than  that  number  in  the 
remaining  French  provinces.  Their  opponents  were, 
however,  numerous  and  active,  and  Richelieu  was  not 
unwilling  to  see  this  check  on  their  ambition.  We  find 
Father  Suffren,  the  king's  confessor,  complaining  in  1626 
of  the  number  and  violence  of  their  enemies,  and  adding  : 
"  Few  of  our  friends  have  the  courage  openly  to  under- 
take to  defend  us."  What  we  shall  see  presently  of 
their  relations  to  the  bishops  and  universities  will  throw 
some  light  on  this.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
Richelieu  despised  the  Jesuits,  but  preferred  to  have 
them  under  his  eye,  engaged  in  the  teaching  of  the 
young,  rather  than  as  open  opponents.  He  punished 
them  ruthlessly  when  they  interfered  in  politics.  He  had 
Father  Monod,  confessor  to  Christiane  of  Savoy, 
imprisoned  for  his  political  intrigues,  and  when  Father 
Caussin,  who  was  appointed  confessor  to  Louis  in  1637, 
was  discovered  by  Richelieu's  spies  to  be  making  a 
secret  and  insidious  attempt  to  turn  the  king  against 
Richelieu,  he  was  promptly  exiled.  Louis  had  shown 
Caussin  a  list,  supplied  by  Richelieu,  of  Jesuit  theologians, 
who  approved  the  policy  of  the  minister.  "Ah,  sire," 
said  the  Jesuit,  piqued  at  this  astute  move,  "they  had  a 
church  to  build." 

In  a  word,  the  Jesuits  were  politically  powerless 
under  Richelieu,  and  gave  him  little  serious  anxiety. 
It  seems  rather  that  he  induced  many  of  them,  however 
insincerely,  to  support  him  in  his  policy — a  policy  which 
was  angrily  repudiated  by  Rome  and  the  Catholic 
powers.  In  1638  he  threatened  to  cast  off  the  yoke  of 
the  papacy,  and,  by  making  some  of  the  gravest 
concessions  demanded  by  the  Reformers,  unite  the 
Huguenots  and  Catholics  of  France  in  an  independent 
Gallican  Church.      If  we  may  believe  a  story  given  in 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM        177 

Bayle's  Dichonaiy  (article  "  Amyrant "),  which  was 
written  shortly  afterwards,  he  actually  used  the  Jesuit 
Amyrant  to  negotiate  with  a  leading  Huguenot  divine, 
and  promise  to  surrender  such  Catholic  doctrines  as 
purgatory  and  the  invocation  of  the  saints/  Two  years 
later  we  find  a  Jesuit  enlisted  in  the  regiment  of  pam- 
phleteers who  defended  Richelieu's  singular  policy.  It 
is  perhaps,  in  view  of  their  constant  policy  toward  the 
Reformation,  one  of  the  most  curious  instances  of  their 
power  of  adaptation  to  circumstances. 

I  have  said  that  Richelieu  despised  the  Jesuits,  and 
his  correspondence  with  Father  (later  Cardinal)  de 
Berulle  suggests  this.  De  Berulle,  a  man  of  exalted 
character  and  piety,  was  the  founder  of  the  Oratorian 
priests,  and  a  valued  friend  of  the  minister.  We  have 
a  letter  that  he  wrote  to  Richelieu  in  1623,  which  con- 
tains, in  the  mild  and  charitable  language  of  a  saint,  a 
very  painful  indictment  of  the  French  Jesuits.  Their 
jealousy  of  the  new  congregation  and  determination 
to  prevent  its  growth  led  to  some  extremely  unworthy 
conduct.  In  town  after  town,  as  de  Berulle  describes 
in  detail,  the  Oratorians  removed  the  prejudice  against 
the  Jesuits,  and  even  surrendered  property  to  them, 
and  the  Jesuits  then  repaid  their  benefactors  with 
slander  and  intrigue.  At  Dieppe  the  governor  refused 
to  allow  the  Jesuits  to  found  a  college,  but  gladly 
admitted  the  Oratorians.  A  Jesuit  then  asked  the 
hospitality  of  the  Oratorians,  and  used  the  opportunity 
to  intrigue  against  them,  in  favour  of  the  Society, 
among  the  citizens.  A  letter  in  which  he  informed 
his  colleagues  of  his  hope  of  winning  the  college  from 
the  Oratorians  was  intercepted  and  sent  to  de  Berulle. 
At  Paris  the  King  offered  the  Oratorians  a  hotel,  but 
the  Jesuits  intervened    and    prevented   the  gift.     They 

^  See  the  author's  Iron  Cardinal  (1909),  p.  341. 
12 


178  THE  JESUITS 

told  "  stranee  and  atrocious  calumnies"  of  de  Berulle 
at  the  court,  and  at  Bordeaux  they  proposed  to  indite 
him  for  heresy.  The  intrigue  covers  the  whole  of 
France  during  more  than  ten  years,  and  betrays  a  very 
general  lack  of  moral  sensitiveness  among  the  French 
Jesuits.  In  a  similar,  though  less  vigorous,  way  they 
attempted  to  hinder  the  growth  of  the  new  congregation 
of  priests  founded  by  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.^ 

A  more  general  view  of  the  conduct  of  the  French 
Jesuits  from  1615  to  1645  does  little  to  alter  this  un- 
favourable impression.  Even  in  the  pages  of  their 
French  apologist  their  record  of  service  is  singularly 
mediocre  ;  they  taught  tens  of  thousands  of  pupils  and 
preached  to  hundreds  of  congregations,  is  all  that  one 
can  say.  On  the  other  hand,  when  we  turn  to  the 
numerous  facts  which  the  French  apologist  has  discreetly 
omitted,  we  find  them  making  unedifying  efforts  to 
extend  their  work  and  influence.  In  1620  the  Jesuits 
of  Poitiers  defy  the  bishop,  who  lays  an  interdict  on 
their  church  ;  the  bishop  has  decreed  that  his  people 
must  attend  their  parish  churches  once  in  three  weeks 
at  least,  and  the  Jesuits  reply  from  the  pulpit  that  it 
is  enough  if  the  people  attend  their  church.  At 
Angouleme,  in  1622,  they  secure,  through  Father  Coton 
and  by  a  secret  contract  with  the  mayor,  the  monopoly 
of  teaching  and  the  control  of  the  university.  They 
continue  for  four  years  to  defy  the  bishop  and  stir  the 
people  against  him,  although  they  are  condemned  by 
Cardinal  de  Sourdis  and  their  contract  is  declared  void 
by  the  Parlement,  until  the  bishop  is  compelled  to 
excommunicate  them.  In  1623  they  have  similar 
trouble,    due    to    their    determination    to    found    petty 

'  Cr^tineau-Joly  suppresses  the  whole  of  these  facts,  and  describes  P^re 
de  BdruUe  as  "  intimately  united  with  the  Jesuits  "  !  Ue  Bdrulle's  letter  to 
Richelieu  is  published  in  the  Annales^  ii.  738. 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       179 

universities  at  Toulouse,  Pontoise,  and  Tournon,  and 
all  the  universities  of  France  combine  in  what  the 
French  apologist  calls  a  "  ferocious  war  "  against  them. 
A  few  years  later  they  obtain  from  the  King  letters 
permitting  them  to  found  a  house  at  Troyes,  "at  the 
request  of  the  inhabitants."  The  inhabitants  were  so 
little  minded  to  invite  them,  and  so  angry  at  the  fraud, 
that  they  kept  them  out  of  Troyes,  in  spite  of  all 
their  efforts,  for  a  hundred  years.  Their  record  in 
France  is  full  of  such  details.  Toward  the  end  of  the 
period  it  begins  to  tell  of  the  famous  struggle  with 
the  Jansenists  ;  but  we  will  consider  this  story  in  full 
in  a  later  chapter. 

An  incident  that  occurred  in  the  province  of 
Lorraine,  which  was  annexed  by  Richelieu  in  1633, 
deserves  special  consideration.  The  impetuous  and 
sensuous  young  Duke,  Charles  iv.,  chose  the  Jesuit 
Cheminot  as  his  confessor  in  1637,  and  a  week  later, 
although  his  first  wife  still  lived,  he  married  the  Princess 
Beatrix  de  Cusance.  Instead  of  retiring  from  the  court, 
which  was  at  once  assailed  from  all  parts  of  France  for 
the  bigamy,  Cheminot  wrote  a  casuistic  memoir  to 
prove  that  the  marriage  was  valid,  and  clung  to  the 
duke  for  six  years.  The  misconduct  of  an  individual 
Jesuit  is,  as  I  have  said,  not  matter  for  serious  history, 
and,  if  it  were  true  that  Cheminot  defied  his  own 
superiors,  there  would  be  no  occasion  to  dwell  on  it. 
But  the  correspondence  published  by  Cretineau-Joly 
shows  plainly  that  the  Jesuit  authorities  acquiesced  in 
Cheminot's  position  for  many  years.  We  find  Charles 
writing  to  General  Vitelleschi  in  1639,  in  friendly 
terms,  to  complain  that  some  of  the  other  Jesuits  are 
hostile  to  his  accommodating  confessor.  Three  years 
later  we  find  Charles  declaring  to  Cheminot  that  he 
will  not  grant  him  permission  to  retire,  as  his  General 


i8o  THE  JESUITS 

"presses"  him  to  do;  as  if  a  Jesuit  needed  such 
permission.  It  was  only  in  1643,  when  the  scandal 
was  known  to  all  Europe,  that  the  Roman  authorities 
excommunicated  Cheminot.  They  had  waited  five 
years  in  the  hope  that  they  would  not  be  compelled 
to  sacrifice  a  place  in  a  ducal  court. 

Their  fortunes  in  Belgium  and  Holland  also  were 
less  romantic  than  they  had  been  in  earlier  years.  The 
settlement  of  Belgium  as  a  Catholic  province  enabled 
them  to  spread  over  it  with  easy  prosperity,  and  obtain 
a  very  large  share  in  the  education  of  the  young.  The 
Flemish  fathers  made  a  singular  contribution  to  the 
literature  of  the  Society,  which  has  given  its  more 
sober  admirers  much  embarrassment.  In  the  year 
1636,  which  they  chose  to  regard  as  the  centenary  of 
the  Society,  they  published  a  work,  the  Imago  Primi 
Sceculi,  in  which  they  gave,  by  pen  and  pencil,  a 
marvellous  account  of  the  first  hundred  years  of  the 
Society's  life.  Its  progress  and  virtues  were  put  on 
the  highest  scale  of  miraculous  heroism  ;  the  Jesuits 
were  represented  as  a  troop  of  angels  transferred 
to  the  planet  earth  in  the  crisis  of  its  religious 
development.  As,  however,  the  modern  apologist 
for  the  Jesuits  represents  the  work  as  a  "touching 
fiction"  and  "pious  dithyramb,"  we  need  not  give  it 
serious  attention.  Undoubtedly  it  was  imposed  on 
Belgium  and  other  countries  at  the  time  as  veracious 
history. 

M.  Cretineau-Joly  is  not  so  candid  when  he  turns  to 
Holland.  He  marks  how,  in  spite  of  the  heretical  atmo- 
sphere, the  Jesuits  have  planted  colonies  at  Amsterdam, 
The  Hague,  Utrecht,  Leyden,  Harlem,  Delft,  Rotter- 
dam, Gouda,  Hoorn,  Alkmaer,  Harlingen,  Groningen, 
Bolsward,  Zutphen,  Nimegues,  and  Vianen  ;  how  they 
mingle  with  the  Spanish  troops  and  board  their  vessels 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       i8i 

in  the  war ;  how  they  press  on  to  Denmark,  and  are 
seen  everywhere  as  the  fearless  "standard-bearers  of 
the  Church."  It  was,  perhaps,  natural  that  he  should 
be  indisposed  to  mar  this  picture  with  an  account  of 
the  relations  of  the  Jesuits  to  the  secular  clergy ;  but, 
since  our  purpose  is  to  attain  a  just  and  complete  view 
of  the  Jesuit  character,  we  are  compelled  to  consider  it. 
During  forty  years  they  maintained  a  struggle  similar 
to  that  they  had  conducted  in  England  in  the  days  of 
Elizabeth. 

The    secular   clergy   of    Holland    pressed    for    the 
appointment  of  a  bishop,  and  the  Jesuits  used  all  their 
resources    to    prevent    such    an    appointment,    since    it 
threatened    their   ascendancy.     When   a   priest    named 
Sasbold  was  named  for  the  office,  they  made  a  scandal- 
ous attack  on  his  character;  and  when,  in  1602,  he  was 
appointed  Archbishop  of   Utrecht,  they  had  his   name 
changed  to   Archbishop   of   Philippi.      Until    his    death 
in   16 1 4  they  conducted  an  unceasing  intrigue  against 
Sasbold,    and    they   first   endeavoured   to   prevent   the 
appointment  of  a  successor,  and  then  transferred  their 
rancorous   hostility  to    him.     They  had  been  banished 
from  Holland  in   16 12,  but  they  again   secured   tolera- 
tion, and  by   1628   there  were    seventy    Jesuits    in    the 
country.     The    struggle   against    the    archbishop    con- 
tinued all  through  the  period,  in  spite  of  several  papal 
injunctions    that    they    were    to    obey    him ;    but    it    is 
unnecessary  to    enter   into   all    the    details.     We    need 
not  question   the  bravery  of  the    Jesuits   as    standard- 
bearers   of  the   Church,   but  it  is  impossible  to  admire 
their    efforts    to    prevent    the    employment    of    other 
standard-bearers.     Their   work    was,    in    point   of   fact, 
less  effective  than  that  of  the    secular  clergy,  because 
the    Dutch     Protestants    hated    and    distrusted    them. 
They    were   found    in     1638    to    be    implicated    in    a 


i82  THE  JESUITS 

political  plot  to  introduce   the    Spaniards,  and   two   of 
them  were  tortured  and  executed. 

Since  the  period  we  are  considering  coincides  with 
the  Thirty  Years'  War  (i  618-1648),  we  naturally  find 
that  the  record  of  the  Jesuits  in  Germany  is  full  of 
life  and  adventure.  Their  share  in  bringing  about 
that  disastrous  and  paralysing  struggle  cannot  be 
measured  by  the  historian.  Now  that  the  world  realises 
the  baneful  effect  of  that  war  and  of  the  Catholic 
policy  of  intolerance  which  led  to  it,  in  retarding 
the  development  of  European  civilisation,  the  Jesuit 
authorities  are  not  likely  ever  to  publish  such  documents 
in  their  archives  as  would  reveal  their  activity.  We 
must  be  guided  by  two  chief  considerations.  In  the  first 
place,  the  general  historian  can  trace  the  movements 
which  led  to  the  outbreak  of  war  without  any  reference 
to  the  Jesuits,  and  is  therefore  not  disposed  to  think  that 
their  intrigues  were  an  essential  element  in  the  incite- 
ment of  it;  on  the  other  hand,  however,  the  Jesuits 
were  the  most  earnest  and  insistent  advocates  of  the 
harsh  Catholic  policy  which  occasioned  the  war,  and 
they  had  considerable  influence  over  the  Catholic 
leaders.  Ferdinand  11.,  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  and 
Wallenstein  had  been  trained  in  Jesuit  schools;  Tilly 
had  actually  entered  the  Society,  but  withdrawn  before 
he  had  taken  the  vows.  Jesuits  swarmed  in  the  Catholic 
camp,  especially  about  the  tent  of  Tilly,  fired  the 
soldiers  to  their  work,  and  advanced  in  the  rear  of  the 
army  to  occupy  whatever  towns  fell  to  their  arms. 

The  war  began,  it  will  be  remembered,  in  Bohemia, 
and  here  the  Jesuits  were  very  clearly  interested. 
When  the  Protestants  cast  off  the  yoke  of  the  Emperor 
in  16 1 8,  they  swept  the  Jesuits  from  their  country  and 
burned  some  of  their  colleges.  We  can  very  well 
imagine    the    plaints    of    the    Jesuits   at    the    courts    of 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       183 

Ferdinand  and  Maximilian,  and  are  not  surprised  to 
learn  that  eighteen  Jesuits  accompanied  Tilly's  troops 
when  they  came  to  subdue  Bohemia.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  the  war.  Similarly,  when  Bethlen  Gabor 
took  Hungary  in  1622,  one  of  his  first  measures  was 
to  expel  the  Jesuits ;  and  the  victorious  Swedes  had 
expelled  them  from  Livonia  in  the  preceding  year. 
It  is,  however,  unnecessary  here  to  follow  them  through 
the  long  course  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  They 
retreated  and  advanced  with  the  soldiers  of  the  Catholic 
League,  died  of  plague  in  the  camp  or  fell  under  the 
sabres  of  the  heretics,  and  maintained  the  struggle  to 
the  end  with  all  the  energy  which  non-combatants 
could  exert.  There  were  even  occasions,  as  at  the 
siege  of  Prague,  when  they  took  arms  and  fought 
desperately  in  the  van  of  the  Catholic  troops.  The 
alliance  of  France  with  the  Protestants  was  a  bitter 
disappointment  to  them,  and  they  were  among  the 
few  in  Europe  who  profoundly  deplored  the  Peace 
of  Westphalia  (1648),  which  at  last  gave  a  just  liberty 
to  Protestantism  in  Germany.  The  war,  as  conceived 
by  them,   was  a  costly  and  lamentable  failure. 

I  have  said  that  they  fiercely  resented  the  attitude 
of  Richelieu  ;  yet,  it  is  curious  to  note,  they  took  a 
singular  advantage  of  it  in  their  own  interest.  One 
of  the  articles  of  the  treaty  which  Richelieu  made  with 
the  northern  heretics  provided  that  after  their  victories 
they  should  respect  Jesuit  settlements.  Cr^tineau-Joly 
reproduces  a  letter  in  which  Louis  xiii.  reminds  his 
Protestant  allies  of  this  provision.  The  French  apolo- 
gist would  have  us  believe  that  the  agreement  was 
distasteful  to  the  Jesuits  themselves, — on  this  point  he 
quotes  no  documents, — but  we  should  find  it  hard  to 
conceive  Richelieu  making:  so  exacting  a  demand  of 
the  Protestants   if  the  Jesuits  were  even  indifferent  to 


i84  THE  JESUITS 

it.  It  accords  only  too  well  with  their  sinuous  and 
accommodating  policy. 

Their  work  of  education  proceeded  in  the  provinces 
which  were  not  ravaged  by  the  troops ;  but  even  here 
they  met  much  hostility  and  had  some  disastrous  ex- 
periences. It  was  during  this  period,  in  1612,  that 
the  famous  Secret  Cou7isels  ("  Monita  Privata ")  came 
to  light  and  drew  a  large  amount  of  odium  upon  them. 
It  is  the  general  belief  that  this  book  was  written  by 
a  Polish  priest  and  ex- Jesuit,  Jerome  Zahorowski, 
whose  bishop  proceeded  against  him  on  that  ground. 
Since,  however,  manuscript  copies  of  the  work  were 
afterwards  discovered  in  the  Jesuit  colleges  at  Prague, 
Paris,  Roermond,  Munich,  and  Paderborn,  their  critics 
submit  that  it  was  a  secret  code  of  instructions  issued 
by  the  Roman  authorities  to  their  professed  members, 
and  that  Zahorowski  merely  published  what  the  Society 
had  already  circulated  in  private.  This  question  must 
still  remain  open.  The  occurrence  of  so  many  manu- 
script copies  in  Jesuit  colleges  is  singular,  but  it  is 
impossible  to  prove  that  any  of  these  were  earlier  than 
the  printed  edition  of  161 2. 

If  we  regard  the  contents  of  the  work,  we  find  that 
it  is,  in  almost  every  paragraph,  a  summary  of  prin- 
ciples and  tactics  on  which  the  Jesuits  actually  proceeded 
in  their  pursuit  of  wealth  and  power  ;  but  there  is  a 
callousness,  at  times  a  cynicism,  in  this  deliberate 
codification  which  makes  one  hesitate  to  think  that  it 
was  written  by  high  Jesuit  officials.  It  seems  to  me 
that  Zahorowski  at  least  recast  such  instructions  as 
were  genuine,  and  intended  to  write  a  satire  on  Jesuit 
procedure.  It  is  incredible  that  the  Roman  authorities 
should  enjoin  the  fathers  always  to  settle  in  wealthy 
towns,  **  because  the  aim  of  our  Society  is  to  imitate 
Christ,  our  Saviour,  who  dwelt   mainly  at  Jerusalem," 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       185 

and  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  they  expressly  laid 
it  down  that  "  everybody  must  be  brought  into  a  con- 
dition of  dependence  on  us,"  and  that  wealthy  widows 
must  "  be  allowed  to  have  secret  recreation  with  those 
who  please  them."  Nearly  a  fourth  of  the  book  is 
occupied  with  instructions  on  the  way  to  conciliate 
wealthy  widows  :  notoriously,  one  of  the  chief  sections 
of  Jesuit  practice.  Much  of  the  remainder  is  devoted 
to  the  conciliation  of  princes,  and  the  drastic  procedure 
to  be  taken  against  apostates.  There  are  few  lines 
which  do  not  describe  the  well-known  procedure  of  the 
Jesuits  ;  but,  in  its  actual  form,  at  least,  the  work  seems 
to  be  a  deliberate  and  just  satire. 

A  second  incident  which  brought  much  odium  on 
the  Jesuits  in  the  period  occurred  at  Cracow.  Here, 
as  at  so  many  places,  the  University,  conscious  that 
the  Jesuits  wished  to  win  the  control  of  higher  educa- 
tion, kept  a  jealous  eye  on  their  school.  In  1622  the 
fathers  endeavoured  to  evade  the  restrictions  placed  on 
them  by  including  in  their  celebration  of  the  canonisa- 
tion of  St.  Ignatius  a  public  discussion  of  certain  theses. 
The  university  professors  and  students  prevented  them 
from  doing  so,  and  a  long  and  angry  quarrel  followed. 
In  1626  a  decree  of  the  States-General  of  Poland 
(reproduced  in  the  Merctire  fesuite,  ii.  312)  closed  the 
Jesuit  school,  and  the  University  sent  a  formal  report 
to  Louvain  and  other  universities,  begging  them  to 
unite  against  the  intrigues  of  the  Jesuits.  This  letter, 
dated  29th  July  1627,  contains  very  grave  charges  against 
the  Society,  and  considerably  strengthened  the  opposi- 
tion to  them  in  the  university  towns  of  Europe.  It 
complains  that  the  Jesuits  sent  their  pupils  in  arms 
against  the  university  students,  and,  when  a  riot  occurred, 
induced  the  King  to  send  troops  against  the  students. 
As    grave    trouble    occurred    about    the    same   time    at 


i86  THE  JESUITS 

Louvain,  Douai,  Liege,  Salamanca,  and  other  univer- 
sities, there  was  a  general  concentration  of  the  professors 
throughout  Europe  in  hostility  to  the  Society,  How- 
ever much  we  may  suspect  partiality  or  exaggeration 
in  their  severe  charges,  it  is  clear  that  the  Jesuits  made 
unscrupulous  efforts  to  capture  the  universities. 

And  this  feeling  against  them  was  strongly  reinforced 
by  their  efforts  to  secure  the  property  of  other  monastic 
bodies.  We  saw  how  Ignatius  himself  had  set  an 
example  by  endeavouring  to  get  the  estates  of  the 
Benedictines  in  England,  and  how  constantly  this 
charge  is  made  against  the  Society.  In  1629,  Ferdinand 
II.  ordered  the  Protestants  of  his  dominions  to  restore 
ecclesiastical  property ;  and  |we  learn  from  the  decree 
of  Pope  Urban  viii.  that  the  Jesuits  were  "the  chief 
authors  of  the  imperial  edict."  The  Benedictines, 
Cistercians,  and  Premonstratensians  at  once  beg-an 
to  claim  their  property,  and  were  not  a  little  agitated 
when  the  "chief  authors"  of  the  edict  succeeded  in 
getting  from  the  Pope  an  order  that  they  were  to  share 
in  the  division.  The  Emperor's  confessor  was,  of 
course,  a  Jesuit  (Lamormaini),  and  it  is  admitted  by 
their  apologist  that  they  secured  the  "best  part"  of 
the  restored  property.  To  cover  their  lack  of  moral 
or  legal  title  to  this  property,  the  Jesuits  freely 
reproached  the  older  orders  with  corruption  and  de- 
cadence, and  a  war  of  pamphlets  was  maintained  for 
many  years.  From  these  publications  we  learn  some 
remarkable  stories  of  Jesuit  procedure. 

At  Voltigerode  in  Saxony  some  Bernardine  nuns 
had,  in  1631,  obtained  one  of  the  restored  houses.  The 
Jesuit  fathers  persuaded  them  that  the  building  was 
unsafe,  and,  when  the  nuns  retired,  claimed  it  as 
"  abandoned  property."  The  nuns  returned,  however, 
and   a   very  lively   scene   was   witnessed.     The   Jesuits 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       187 

brought  the  poHce,  and  the  nuns,  who  clung  valiantly 
to  the  seats  of  the  chapel,  were  physically  dragged 
out  of  the  building.  The  Cistercian  monks  afterwards 
took  up  the  case  and  secured  the  expulsion  of  the 
Jesuits.  At  Prague  the  Jesuits  coveted  a  handsome 
Cistercian  abbey,  and  persuaded  the  Emperor  that 
only  a  half-dozen  degenerate  monks  occupied  the  vast 
establishment.  An  imperial  commissary  was  sent,  and 
found  that  there  were  sixty-one  monks  and  thirteen 
novices  in  the  abbey.  The  angry  Jesuits,  who  accom- 
panied the  commissary,  protested  that  the  abbot  had 
put  the  monastic  dress  on  his  farm-labourers  ;  but  the 
Cistercians  held  their  ground  and  obtained  the  protection 
of  the  Emperor.  The  Vicar-General  of  the  Order 
of  Cluny  reported  a  large  number  of  these  fraudulent 
attempts  of  the  Jesuits  to  obtain  the  property  of  his 
monks  ;  and  we  have  civic  and  ecclesiastical  documents 
relating  to  great  numbers  of  similar  cases  in  France, 
Germany,  and  Switzerland  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century.^ 

When  we  turn  to  the  missionary  field  of  the  Society 
during  this  period,  we  find  a  remarkable  activity  which 
would  in  itself  merit  a  volume.  The  casuistic  methods 
of  the  Jesuits  are  applied  in  a  singular  way  to  overcome 
the  obstacles  to  their  success,  and  devices  are  adopted 
from  which  the  modern  missionary,  of  any  denomina- 
tion, would  shrink  with  astonishment.  The  simple 
fervour  of  a  Xavier  had,  as  we  saw,  early  given  way  to 
more  calculating  methods  and  political  intrigue,  but  the 
extent  to  which  this  diplomatic  procedure  was  carried 
in  the  seventeeth  century  brought  a  storm  of  criticism 

^  Many  of  the  documents  are  collected  in  the  Annales  de  la  SociitS  des 
soi-disans  Jesuites.  The  most  familiar  procedure  of  the  Jesuits  was  to 
accuse  the  monks  of  corruption  and  rely  on  their  influence  at  court  to 
prevent  too  close  an  inquiry.  The  French  Conseil  d'Etat  forced  them,  as 
late  as  4th  August  1654,  to  restore  three  abbeys  to  their  lawful  owners. 


i88  THE  JESUITS 

upon  the  Jesuits.  Here  we  have  only  to  notice  the 
beginning  of  the  more  unusual  tactics,  and  we  will  in 
a  later  chapter  consider  the  missions  in  the  height  of 
their  prosperity  and  irregularity. 

An  amusing  instance  of  this  readiness  to  adopt 
questionable,  and  even  downright  dishonest,  practices 
in  the  service  of  religion  is  furnished  by  the  mission  to 
the  Hindoos.  It  appears  that  after  all  the  hundred 
years  of  activity  in  India,  with  a  free  and  not  very 
delicate  use  of  the  Portuguese  authority,  the  results 
were  regarded  as  meagre  and  unsatisfactory.  Hitherto 
we  have  heard  nothing  but  most  optimistic  accounts  of 
the  work  of  the  missionaries  in  India;  but  when  the 
hour  comes,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  for  justifying  a  new  and  strange  policy,  the 
Jesuits  tell  us  that  the  effect  of  the  older  policy  had 
been  slight,  and  that  the  high-caste  Hindoos  smiled 
with  disdain  on  the  crowds  of  ignorant  natives  who 
had,  on  one  pretext  or  other,  accepted  baptism.  In 
1605  '^he  Jesuit  Robert  de  Nobili,  an  Italian  of  noble 
birth  and  a  nephew  of  Bellarmine,  joined  the  Indian 
mission  and  initiated  the  new  policy. 

Isolating  himself  from  his  colleagues  before  he 
became  known  in  India,  he  made  a  very  close  study  of 
the  customs  and  sacred  writings  of  the  higher  caste 
Hindoos,  learned  Tamil  and  Sanscrit,  and  after  a  few 
years  appeared  before  the  people  of  India  as  a  member 
of  the  penitential  (or  highest)  caste  of  the  Saniassi. 
He  lived  apart,  in  a  turf  hut,  and  abstained  rigorously 
from  flesh  and  fish.  His  head  was  shaved,  save  for  a 
single  tuft  of  hair,  and  he  had  the  yellow  mark  of  the 
caste  on  his  forehead.  Dressed  in  a  flame-coloured 
robe  and  tiger-skin,  with  the  peculiar  wooden  sandals 
of  the  caste  on  his  feet,  he  posed  in  all  things  as  one  of 
the    devout    Saniassi,    and  attracted  the    veneration   of 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       189 

the  natives.  The  Brahmans  naturally  suspected  this 
mysterious  addition  to  their  brotherhood,  and  came  to 
interrogate  him.  He  took  oath  that  he  was  of  high 
caste, — a  quite  innocent  thing,  the  Jesuit  apologists  say, 
since  he  was  a  noble  by  birth,  —  and  produced  a 
document  certifying  that  he  was  the  Tatuva  Podagar 
Swami  whom  he  pretended  to  be.  This  document  was 
itself  a  gross  imposture,  and  we  may  be  further  quite 
sure  that  the  Brahmans  would  not  pass  him,  as  they 
did,  until  he  had  made  very  plain  professions  of  belief 
in  the  Vedas  and  the  Hindoo  gods,  and  practised  the 
idolatrous  rites  of  his  adopted  caste. 

For  a  time  he  lived  apart,  and  was  content  to  edify 
by  the  austerity  of  his  life.  Then,  like  his  forerunner, 
the  Swedish  Jesuit  Nicolai,  he  began  to  attract  a  few 
impressible  Brahmans,  and  cautiously  to  initiate  them 
to  the  Christian  faith.  Other  missionaries  were  now 
aware  of  this  action,  and  he  was  summoned  to  appear 
before  the  archbishop  at  Goa.  From  Goa  he  was,  in 
161 8,  sent  to  justify  his  conduct  before  the  Inquisition 
at  Rome  ;  and  many  of  his  own  brethren,  including  his 
learned  uncle,  were  scandalised  at  his  flame-coloured 
robe  and  painted  brow.  He  maintained  that  there  was 
no  superstition  whatever  in  the  practices  of  the  saniassi, 
and  he  actually  obtained  permission  from  the  Pope  to 
return  and  continue  his  work  on  the  understanding  that 
the  peculiarities  of  his  dress  and  the  rites  of  his  caste 
had  no  more  than  a  civic  and  sanitary  significance ! 
Other  members  of  the  Society  now  followed  his 
example,  and  the  imposture  continued  throughout  the 
seventeenth  century.  At  his  death  in  1656  it  was 
claimed  that  Robert  had  made  100,000  high-caste 
converts,  and  that  one  of  his  colleagues  had  made 
30,000.  In  a  more  precise  document,  however,  we 
read,  at  a  later  date,   that  one  of  the  most  insidious  of 


190  THE  JESUITS 

these  Jesuit  saniassis  baptized  nine  Brahmans  in  eight 
months,  and  that  this  was  more  than  his  colleagues  had 
done  in  ten  years.  The  whole  questionable  episode 
was  little  more  than  an  indulgence  in  the  romantic 
adventure  to  which  his  diplomatic  principles  always 
disposed  the  Jesuit.  He  instinctively  loved  disguise 
and  palliated  deceit.  The  work  in  India  continued  on 
the  old  lines.  Thousands  of  children  were  stealthily 
baptized,  to  swell  the  lists  published  in  Europe  ;  the 
favour  and  wealth  of  the  Portuguese  were  assiduously 
used ;  and,  as  we  gather  from  the  letters  sent  to 
Europe,  a  great  deal  of  trickery  was  employed  in  order 
to  make  the  ignorant  natives  believe  that  the  Jesuits 
could  work  miracles  and  control  devils.  Coloured 
lights  were  cunningly  placed  at  times  so  as  to  shine  on 
their  statues  and  altars  and  create  a  belief  in  miracles. 

Missionaries  from  India  penetrated  Ceylon  and 
Thibet,  but  they  were  expelled  after  a  few  years.  The 
Chinese  mission  continued  to  prosper,  and  by  1620  claimed 
to  have  made  a  hundred  thousand  converts.  One  of  the 
missionaries,  Adam  Schall,  an  expert  in  mathematics 
and  mechanics,  was  employed  by  the  Emperor  to 
correct  the  Chinese  calendar,  make  guns  for  his  army, 
and  construct  fortifications.  He  received  in  return 
permission  for  his  colleagues  to  preach  throughout 
the  Empire,  and  hundreds  of  churches  were  built. 
Presently,  however,  the  rival  Dominican  missionaries 
reported  to  Rome  that  the  Jesuits  owed  their  success 
to  a  scandalous  compromise  with  the  native  religion. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Christianity  they  set  before 
the  Chinese  was  a  very  different  creed  from  that  which 
Xavier  had  intended  to  bring.  They  did  not  obtrude 
the  crucifix  on  the  notice  of  their  converts,  and  they 
looked  leniently  on  the  worship  of  ancestors  and  the 
veneration    for    Kung-fu-tse.       When    the    Dominicans 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       191 

and  Franciscans  insisted  on  the  drastic  purity  of  the 
faith,  and  characterised  the  pagan  moraHst  with  all  the 
vigour  of  mediaeval  intolerance,  the  Jesuits  persuaded 
the  Chinese  to  expel  them,  and  a  spirited  struggle, 
which  will  engage  us  at  a  later  stage,  took  place  in 
regard  to  their  "Chinese  rites." 

The  Japanese  mission,  on  the  other  hand,  was  totally 
extinguished  under  the  generalship  of  Vitelleschi.  For 
a  time  after  16 16  the  new  Emperor  Xogun  was  in- 
different to  the  labours  of  the  Jesuits,  who  entered  the 
country  in  disguise,  and  the  converts  were  once  more 
gathered  into  the  Church.  It  is  said  that  they  numbered 
400,000,  and  the  record  of  the  persecutions  which 
followed  shows  that  at  least  a  large  proportion  of  them 
were  fervent  and  convinced  Christians.  In  16 17, 
however,  Xogun  ordered  all  missionaries  to  leave  the 
country,  and  a  long  and  bloody  persecution  set  in.  The 
English  and  Dutch  merchants  had  now  supplanted  the 
Portuguese,  and  they  fed  the  animosity  of  the  Emperor. 
Large  numbers  of  the  Jesuits  and  their  followers  were 
brutally  tortured  and  executed  ;  yet  with  signal  heroism 
they  continued  to  enter  the  land  and  lay  down  their 
lives  for  their  work.  But  the  fierce  persecution  was 
sustained  by  Xogun  11.  and  his  son,  and  by  the  time 
of  the  death  of  Vitelleschi,  Christianity  was  extinct  in 
Japan. 

The  next  most  interesting  field  of  missionary  activity 
was  South  America,  where  the  Jesuits  came  to  set  up 
the  remarkable  commonwealths  of  which  their  admirers 
still  speak  with  unstinted  admiration.  We  must  defer 
until  a  later  stage  the  full  consideration  of  these 
communities,  and  can  only  tell  here  the  story  of  their 
origin  and  early  fortunes.  The  natives  of  Paraguay  had 
been  so  brutally  treated  by  the  Spaniards  that  when, 
in   1586,  the  Jesuits  entered  the  country,   they  found  it 


192  THE  JESUITS 

exceedingly  difficult  to  disarm  their  apprehensions. 
They  scattered  over  the  country,  winning  thousands  of 
the  natives  by  their  kindly  and  humane  aid,  but  usually 
leaving  them,  after  baptism,  to  their  original  ways. 
The  mission  was  better  organised  in  1602,  and  definite 
Christian  settlements  began  to  appear.  As  a  natural 
result  of  their  sympathy  with  the  natives  they  soon 
quarrelled  with  the  Spaniards.  While  the  Spaniards 
expected  the  missionaries  to  make  the  natives  more 
pliant  and  submissive  to  their  authority,  the  Jesuits 
reported  that  the  natives  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  European  colonists,  whom  they  denounced  for  their 
cruelty  and  rapacity.  The  Spaniards  retorted  that  the 
Jesuits  sought  to  keep  the  trade  in  native  products  and 
industries  for  their  own  profit,  and  a  bitter  controversy 
was  provoked.  In  16 10  the  Jesuits  obtained  from 
Philip  III.  permission  to  colonise,  and  founded  the  first 
of  their  "reductions,"  or  industrial  settlements. 

For  many  years  the  work  proved  extremely  difficult. 
The  natives  appreciated  the  protection  of  the  Jesuits, 
who  obtained  a  royal  order  that  none  of  their  converts 
could  be  enslaved,  but  were  little  attracted  to  their 
creed.  At  the  least  pressure  they  would  return  to  the 
forests,  and  could  only  be  recovered  with  great  labour. 
More  workers  came  from  Europe,  however, — by  16 16 
there  were  a  hundred  and  fifty  Jesuits  in  Paraguay, — 
and  more  settlements  were  founded.  By  the  year  1632 
there  were  twenty  "reductions,"  each  containing  about 
a  thousand  families.  Not  only  was  the  ground  assidu- 
ously tilled,  but  Jesuit  lay-brothers  taught  the  arts  and 
crafts  of  civilisation,  and  even  formed  an  armed  and 
trained  militia  for  defence.  The  children  were  taught 
and  decently  clothed,  and  the  evenings  and  days  of  rest 
were  brightened  by  song  and  dance.  The  hours  of 
prayer,    work,    and    sleep    were   appointed    by    the    two 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  JESUITISM       193 

Jesuit  fathers  who  controlled  each  reduction  ;  idleness 
was  severely  punished  and  industry  rewarded  with 
^  presents  of  knives,  or  mirrors,  or  trinkets  ;  the  products 
of  their  industry  were  distributed  each  week ;  and  a 
very  close  observation  was  kept  on  the  morals  of  all  the 
members. 

We    will    consider    these     "ideal    republics"    more 
closely  when  we  find  them    reorganised  and    more    ex- 
tended at  a  later  date.      For  the  moment  it  is  enough  to 
notice  a   curious   inconsistency  which   appears    even    in 
apologetic   accounts    of   them.     To    the    Spaniards    the 
Jesuits  declared  that  the  natives  were  so  suspicious  that 
no  European  could  be  allowed   to  visit  the   reductions, 
and  the  intercourse  of  the  fathers  with  other  Europeans 
had  to  be  concealed  ;  yet  they  refused  to  teach  Spanish 
to  the  natives  on  the  ground  that  intercourse  with  the 
Spaniards  would   corrupt   their    morals.       Their   critics 
naturally  inferred  that  they  kept  the  races  apart  so  that 
their  monopoly  of  the  trade  might  not  be  disturbed,  and 
drew  unfriendly  comparisons   between    the    comfortable 
houses  of  the  missionaries   and  the  rough    unfurnished 
huts   of  their    converts.     We    will  return  to   the    point 
when  the  great  controversy  about  the  reductions  begins 
after    1645.       Before    that    date    they    had    a   series    of 
disasters   to   face   and  were  partially   destroyed.       The 
hostile   tribe    of  the  Mamelus  descended  on  them  and 
drove  most  of  them  out  of  Paraguay.     Of  a    hundred 
thousand  subjects  in  the  province  of  Guayra  the  Jesuits 
only  retained  and  transferred  twelve  thousand. 

The  remaining  Jesuit  missions  of  the  period  may  be 
dismissed  briefly.  They  extended  their  operations  to 
New  Granada,  but  were  expelled  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Santa  Fe,  at  the  complaint  of  the  Spanish  merchants, 
for  mingling  commerce  with  their  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  In  Canada  they  made  little  progress  until  the 
13 


194  THE  JESUITS 

English  abandoned  that  region  in  1632,  and  even 
afterwards  they  found  great  difficuhy  in  forming  settle- 
ments among  the  Indians.  Another  attempt  was  made 
to  enter  Abyssinia,  and  this  also  ended  in  disaster.  For 
services  rendered  by  the  Portuguese  to  the  Emperor 
they  were  allowed  to  preach  their  faith  and  made  many 
converts,  A  Jesuit  at  last  became  "  Patriarch  of 
Abyssinia,"  and  he  involved  the  Emperor  in  a  sanguinary 
repression  of  the  native  Christian  Church.  On  the 
accession  of  a  new  Emperor,  however,  they  were  de- 
nounced to  him  for  a  conspiracy  to  win  the  country  for 
Portugal,  and  were  expelled  once  more.  Letters  of 
theirs  which  were  intercepted  show  that  the  charge  was 
not  groundless.  In  the  same  period,  finally,  they 
obtained,  through  France,  permission  to  enter  the 
Turkish  Empire,  and  they  began  the  work  of  organising 
the  surviving  Christians,  and  assailing  the  Nestorians, 
in  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Persia,  Armenia  and 
Chaldsea, 


CHAPTER   VlII 
UNDER  THE  STUARTS 

With  the  exception  of  the  EngHsh  mission,  which  I 
have  reserved  for  continuous  treatment  in  this  chapter, 
we  have  now  surveyed  the  whole  Hfe  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  during  the  first  century  of  its  history.  The  most 
important  conclusion  that  one  can  draw  from  this  ex- 
tensive and  varied  body  of  experiences  is  that  every 
attempt  to  impose  a  uniform  character  on  the  early 
Jesuits  must  fail.  The  uniformity  in  virtue  and  heroism 
which  is  ascribed  to  the  Society  in  the  florid  pages  of 
the  Imago  Primi  Saeculi  is  as  far  removed  from  the 
truth  as  the  uniformly  dark  features  which  are  imposed 
on  the  Jesuits  by  some  writers  of  the  opposing  school. 
The  candid  historian  must  follow  the  example  of 
Macaulay,  and  give  contrasted  pictures  of  the  light  and 
the  darkness,  the  heroic  devotion  and  the  demoralising 
casuistry,  which  one  equally  discovers  in  that  first 
century  of  Jesuit  history  ;  and  his  effort  to  do  justice 
will  miscarry,  as  that  of  Macaulay  did,  because  Catholic 
writers  will  ingenuously  detach  the  earlier  and  more 
flattering  half  of  his  verdict  and  represent  it  as  his  full 
conclusion. 

This  extreme  variety  of  types  is  in  itself  an  indica- 
tion that  the  discipline  of  the  Society  had  failed, 
lo-natius  had  laid  stress  on  two  rules;  the  novices  were 
to  be  chosen  with  a  care  which  the  older  orders  had 
ceased  to  maintain,  and  the  men  were  to  be  controlled 

'95 


196  THE  JESUITS 

by  a  system  of  surveillance  and  abject  submission  to 
authority  which  should  have  secured  a  large  measure 
of  uniformity.  We  have  seen  that  these  rules  were 
very  largely  disregarded.  The  complaint  is  constant 
and  well  founded  that  the  Jesuits  looked  less  to 
character  and  devotion  than  to  ability  and  social 
position  in  examining  the  candidates  for  admission. 
It  is,  perhaps,  singular  that  this  did  not  at  least  give 
the  Society  a  more  imposing  intellectual  status. 
Cretineau-Joly  has  industriously  collected  the  names 
of  the  chief  writers  and  scholars  who  adorned  the 
annals  of  the  Society  during  the  first  two  centuries. 
One  need  only  say  that,  apart  from  theologians,  there 
are  very  few  names  in  the  list  that  will  be  found  in  any 
impartial  calendar  of  those  who  contributed  to  the 
development  of  modern  culture.  This  vast  society  of 
leisured  and  comfortable  bachelors  offers  us  a  singularly 
meagre  statement  of  results.  Its  prominent  names  are 
generally  the  names  of  politicians  and  pamphleteers. 
This  comparative  poverty,  apart  from  theology,  is  not 
surprising  when  we  reflect  that  the  purpose  of  the 
Society  was  to  combat  heresy  ;  it  is  merely  necessary 
to  note  the  fact  because  the  contrary  is  so  frequently 
stated.  In  proportion  to  their  numbers,  their  resources, 
and  their  exceptional  opportunities  (through  their 
schools)  of  attracting  eligible  youths,  the  Jesuits  are 
not,  and  never  were,  a  learned  body. 

This  general  mediocrity  of  intellect  is  accompanied 
by  a  general  mediocrity  of  character.  Just  as  their 
vaunted  system  of  education  is  singularly  unsuccessful 
in  developing  higher  ability,  so  their  equally  lauded 
spiritual  exercises  leave  the  great  body  at  a  very 
common  level  of  character.  When  we  have  justly 
admired  the  apostles  who  here  and  there  exhibit  heroic 
self-sacrifice  on  the    foreign   missions,  the  communities 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS  197 

which  here  and  there  brave  the  horrors  and  dangers  of 
a  plague-stricken  town,  the  few  whose  integrity  of  Hfe 
wins  the  respect  of  people  unattached  to  the  Society, 
we  find  ourselves  confronting  a  general  body  of  men  of 
no  moral  or  spiritual  distinction.  During  generation 
after  generation  the  largest  provinces  of  the  Society 
persist  in  comfortable  idleness,  and  the  efforts  of  sup- 
eriors to  assert  the  despotic  power  they  are  supposed 
to  possess  are  met  with  resentment  and  intrigue,  and 
are  nearly  always  foiled.  The  theoretical  corpse-like 
passivity  of  the  Jesuit  is  a  sheer  mockery  of  the  facts 
of  their  history. 

They  stand  out  from  the  other  religious  congrega- 
tions of  the^  Roman  world  only  in  the  attainment  of 
greater  power  and  wealth,  and  the  means  by  which  they 
attain  them.  Here  alone  is  there  a  distinctive  strand 
in  the  story  of  the  Jesuits,  perceptible  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Society.  Unquestionably  they  did  far  more 
for  their  Church  in  the  first  century  after  the  Reforma- 
tion than  any  other  religious  body  ;  and  they  did  this 
specifically  by  seeking  wealth  and  power.  They 
strained  every  nerve  to  secure  the  ear  of  popes, 
princes,  and  wealthy  people.  That  was  the  plain 
direction  of  their  founder.  But  we  may  be  confident 
that  Ignatius  would  not  have  sanctioned  the  fraud, 
hypocrisy,  slander,  intrigue,  and  approval  of  violence 
which  this  eagerness  for  power  brought  into  the  Society. 
In  India  and  China,  in  England  and  Sweden,  they 
assumed  a  right  to  lie  in  the  service  of  God  ;  and 
in  the  same  high  cause  they  counselled  or  connived 
at  murder,  slandered  their  fellow-priests,  violated  their 
sacred  obligations,  fostered  wars,  and  accommodated 
the  Christian  ethic  to  the  passions  of  wealthy  or 
influential  sinners.  It  was  never  necessary  for  a  Jesuit 
theologian     to     declare     that     "  the    end    justifies    the 


198  THE  JESUITS 

means."  ^  If  the  phrase  is  regarded,  not  as  a  citation 
from  a  written  book  of  rules,  but  as  an  interpretation 
of  the  conduct  of  the  Jesuits,  it  expresses  the  most 
distinctive  feature  of  the  character  of  the  Society  during 
its  first  hundred  years. 

We  have  now  to  see  how  this  characteristic  will  be 
maintained  during  a  second  century,  and  will  at  length 
bring  a  terrible  catastrophe  upon  the  Society.  For 
half  a  century  the  Jesuits  will  continue  to  enjoy  and 
augment  their  wealth  and  power,  but  the  hatred  which 
they  have  provoked  in  the  minds  of  their  co-religionists 
gathers  thicker  and  darker  about  their  splendid  pros- 
perity and  at  length  extinguishes  it.  They  die  by  the 
hand  of  Catholics,  suffering  the  just  penalty  of  their 
grave  abuse  of  power.  It  will  now  be  more  convenient 
to  follow  their  history  continuously  in  each  province, 
and  we  may  begin  with  England. 

We  left  the  Jesuits  struggling  in  disguise  and 
penury  in  England  at  the  death  of  General  Acquaviva 
(1615).  After  the  wave  of  anger  which  the  Gunpowder 
Plot  had  raised  had  partly  subsided,  dozens  of  Jesuits 
stole  bravely  into  their  native  land  and  ministered 
stealthily  to  the  persecuted  Catholics.  There  were 
sixty-eight  of  them  in  England  in  1615  ;  by  1619  the 
number  had  increased  to  nearly  two  hundred,  and 
the  Roman  officials  raised  the  mission  to  the  status 
of  a  vice-province;  in  1623,  when  there  were  284 
members,  they  were  formed  into  a  Province  of  the  Society, 
with  Father  Blount  as  Provincial.  The  indisposition 
of  James  i.  to  persecute  emboldened  them  to  act  with 
greater  vigour.     The  fantastic  picture  of  their  activity 

1  It  may  be  well  to  state  that  no  theologian  ever  said,  in  so  many  words  : 
"The  end  justifies  the  means."  The  nearest  approach  is,  perhaps,  the 
saying  of  the  Jesuit  Busenbaum— 

"To  him  to  whom  the  end  is  lawful,  the  means  also  is  lawful." 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS  i99 

in  Crdtineau-Joly  is,  of  course,  wholly  inaccurate.  We 
read  of  a  Father  Arrowsmith  "issuing  from  his  retreat" 
to  challenge  and  defeat  the  Bishop  of  Chester  in  a 
debate,  and  expose  himself  to  the  prelate's  vindictive- 
ness.  It  was  not  in  1628,  but  some  years  before, 
that  Edmund  Arrowsmith  argued  with  the  Bishop  of 
Chester;  he  was  then  not  a  Jesuit  at  all,  and  he  did 
not  issue  from  any  retreat  to  challenge  the  prelate 
or  suffer  any  vindictive  punishment.  He  was  arrested 
as  a  priest,  happened  to  find  the  bishop  eating  meat 
on  a  Friday  and  argued  the  point  in  passing,  and 
was  released.^ 

The  truth  is  that  from  1607  to  16 18  there  were 
only  sixteen  persons  executed  on  the  ground  of  religion 
in  England,  and  none  of  them  was  a  Jesuit.  The 
prisons,  indeed,  contained  several  hundred  priests, 
and  several  thousand  Catholic  laymen,  but  James  was 
disinclined  to  take  extreme  measures,  and  the  priests 
had  much  liberty  even  in  jail.  Father  Percy,  a 
Durham  man,  converted  150  men  and  women  of 
rank,  including  the  Countess  of  Buckingham,  mother 
of  the  famous  minister,  during  his  three  years  in  the 
New  Prison  on  the  Thames.  James  himself  con- 
descended to  debate  with  him,  and  Father  Percy 
ended  a  long  and  adventurous  career  in  bed.  In 
1622,  in  fact,  when  James  began  to  negotiate  with 
Spain  for  a  Catholic  princess  for  his  son,  four  thousand 
Catholics  were  released  from  jail,  and  the  execution 
of  the  penal  laws  was  greatly  relaxed.  Catholics 
generally  looked  forward  with  eagerness  to  the  marriage, 
but    the    Jesuits    opposed    it    at    the    Vatican.      It    is 

^  He  joined  the  Society  afterwards,  in  1624,  and  was  arrested  (on 
a  Catholic  denunciation)  and  executed  in  1628.  This  section  of  the  French 
historian's  work  is  particularly  inaccurate  and  fantastic.  See  Father  Foley's 
Records^  ii.  p.  32,  for  Arrowsmith. 


200  THE  JESUITS 

suggested  that  they  dreaded  the  coming  of  a  bishop 
in  the  train  of  the  princess,  but  it  is  not  improbable 
that  they  preferred  an  alHance  with  France.  When 
the  Spanish  negotiations  failed — and  they  would  have 
failed  without  any  assistance  from  the  Jesuits  —  the 
laws  were  enforced  once  more  with  some  rigour.  Still 
it  was  only  accident  or  imprudence  that  brought 
punishment  on  the  Jesuits,  In  1623  one  of  them, 
Father  Drury,  was  preaching  on  a  Sunday  afternoon 
to  some  two  or  three  hundred  Catholics  in  the  house 
of  the  French  Ambassador  at  Blackfriars,  when  the 
floor  give  way,  and  the  preacher  and  a  hundred  others^ 
were  killed.  The  common  folk  of  London  made 
ghastly  merriment  over  "  the  doleful  even-song."  Five 
years  later  several  Jesuits  were  caught  in  a  house 
belonging  to  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  at  Clerkenwell. 
We  find  that  they  had  there  a  regular  novitiate  and  the 
residence  of  their  Provincial.  An  imposing  ceremony 
was  to  take  place,  and  the  large  intake  of  provisions 
aroused  the  suspicion  of  the  priest-hunters.  Only  one 
Jesuit  was  executed.  In  1622  forty  of  the  fathers 
had  attended  a  provincial  congregation  of  their  Society 
in  London,  and  they  had  decided  to  found  colleges 
in  Wales  and  Staffordshire. 

There  is,  however,  another  aspect  of  the  activity 
of  the  Jesuits  in  England  which  the  French  historian 
discreetly  ignores.  We  saw  in  an  earlier  chapter  how 
Father  Parsons  had  intrisfued  to  sfet  control  of  the 
continental  colleges  and  to  prevent  the  sending  of  a 
bishop  to  England.  His  successors  continued  to  ex- 
asperate the  secular  clergy  by  pursuing  this  selfish 
policy.  Of  the  twenty-seven  French  and  Flemish 
seminaries  which  supplied  the  large  body  of  priests 
in  England,  the  Jesuits  controlled  five,  besides  their 
colleges  in  Spain,  and  they  made  every  effort  to  obtain 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS  201 

an  ascendency  over  the  priests.  When  the  Archpriest 
died  in  1621,  the  secular  clergy  again  appealed  to 
the  Pope  for  a  bishop,  and  the  Jesuits  again  opposed 
the  appeal.  When,  after  a  long  struggle,  the  Pope 
inclined  to  make  the  appointment,  the  Jesuits  induced 
Tobie  Matthews  (a  Catholic  son  of  the  Archbishop 
of  York)  to  have  James  informed.  The  King  sent 
word  to  the  Pope,  through  Spain,  that  he  would  not 
suffer  the  appointment,  but  he  was  later  convinced 
that  he  had  been  misled  and  the  secular  priests 
obtained  a  "  Bishop  of  Chalcedon."  He  died  in  the 
following  year,  and  his  successor  seems  to  have  been 
imprudent,  as  the  Benedictine  monks  joined  the  Jesuits 
against  him.  The  inner  history  of  this  domestic 
squabble  is  told  us  by  Panzani,  who  was  the  Vatican 
agent  in  England  a  few  years  afterwards.  He  tells 
us  that  the  Jesuits  made  an  improper  charge  to  the 
King  against  the  Bishop,  and  he  was  driven  to  the 
Continent. 

Since  one  of  the  chief  problems  of  Jesuit  history 
is  to  account  for  the  bitter  hostility  to  them  of  priests 
who  were  no  less  devoted  than  they  in  the  service 
of  Catholicism,  it  is  necessary  to  notice  this  unpleasant 
wrangling  and  intrigue  in  the  very  heart  of  an  heretical 
land.  I  may,  however,  refer  to  Father  Taunton's 
History  of  the  Jesuits  in  England  for  a  longer  account 
of  this  domestic  struggle  and  return  to  the  larger 
historical  question. 

The  early  years  of  the  reign  of  Charles  i.  were  not 
marred  by  any  enforcement  of  the  more  drastic  penal 
laws.  The  fining  of  lay  Catholics — of  whom  about 
eleven  thousand  were  known — still  provided  the  King 
with  a  handsome  addition  to  the  privy  purse,  and  indeed 
it  was  necessary  to  disarm  the  sullen  suspicion  with 
which  the  more  zealous  Protestants  watched  the  foreign 


202  THE  JESUITS 

queen  and  her  spiritual  court.  No  serious  effort  was 
made,  however,  to  enforce  the  laws  against  the  Jesuits, 
and  they  increased  in  numbers  and  resources.  In  1628 
they  opened  a  second  novitiate  in  London.  In  1634 
one  of  the  secular  clergy  estimated  that  there  were  360 
Jesuits  in  England,  and  that  they  had  550  students 
in  their  colleges.  This  is  evidently  an  exaggeration,  as 
the  Annual  Letters  report  a  total  of  335  members  of  the 
Province  in  the  year  1645,  and  disclose  the  interesting 
fact  that  they  had  a  collective  income  of  17,405  scudi 
(about  ^35,000  in  the  value  of  modern  money).  It  is 
stated  by  their  clerical  opponents  that  part  of  their 
income  was  derived  from  commerce.  A  certain  soap 
was  genially  known  in  London  as  "the  papist  soap," 
and  it  is  said  that  the  Jesuits  had,  through  their  lay 
friends,  shares  in  the  factory  which  produced  it.  They 
were  in  a  strong  and  comfortable  position,  and,  had  they 
been  disposed  to  lay  aside  their  corporate  selfishness 
and  co-operate  generously  with  the  other  clergy,  the 
story  of  religion  in  England  might  have  entered  upon  a 
singular  development. 

In  the  reign  of  Charles  what  we  now  know  as  the 
"  High  Church "  held  a  strong  position,  under  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  there  were 
indications  of  a  disposition  to  return  to  the  allegiance  of 
Rome.  The  head  of  the  English  Benedictine  monks, 
Dom  Jones,  was  sent  by  the  Vatican  in  1634  to  examine 
and  direct  the  situation,  and  he  and  his  successor, 
Panzani,  did  much  to  reconcile  the  secular  and  the 
regular  clergy.  The  Jesuits,  however,  would  not  be 
reconciled,  and  Panzani's  reports  to  the  Vatican  are  full 
of  bitter  charges  against  them.  In  the  Catholic  England 
which  they  foresaw  they  were  determined  to  have  a 
dominant  position.  It  was  said  that  they  induced 
wealthy  and  influential  penitents  to  make  a  special  vow 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS  203 

of  obedience  to  themselves,  and  they  were  even  charged 
by  the  clergy  with  impeding  the  general  restoration  of 
Catholicism  lest  the  new  authorities  should  expel  them 
from  the  kingdom.  They  retorted  with  a  bitter  attack 
on  the  papal  agent.  Virulent  pamphlets  were  discharged 
from  camp  to  camp,  and  the  Jesuits  represented  Panzani 
as  a  secret  agent  of  Richelieu,  seeking  to  unite  England 
and  France  in  opposition  to  Spain.  In  spite  of  this 
intestine  discord  the  Church  of  Rome  continued  to  make 
progress  until  the  shadow  of  the  Civil  War  fell  upon  the 
land  and  the  success  of  the  Puritans  once  more  stifled 
the  hopes  of  the  Catholics. 

The  relation  of  the  Jesuits  to  the  Puritans  has 
never  been  fully  elucidated — perhaps  can  never  be  fully 
elucidated — but  there  is  sufficient  evidence  that  they 
again  proved  their  remarkable  power  of  adaptation  to 
varying  circumstances.  We  will  not  suppose  that  they 
themselves  offered  the  rebels  the  use  of  their  theological 
doctrine  of  the  right  to  depose  and  execute  kings,  or 
put  into  their  hands  Father  Parsons's  convenient  Book 
of  the  Succession,  part  of  which  was  published  by  the 
Parliament.  But  there  is  evidence  that,  under  the 
Commonwealth,  they  were  in  indirect  relations  with 
Cromwell,  and  used  their  international  connections  to 
provide  him  with  information  about  France.  In  Ireland 
they  opposed  the  papal  Nuncio,  Pinuccini  (as  he  bitterly 
complains),  and  were  on  good  terms  with  Cromwell.  A 
piquant  picture  is  offered  us  of  the  Irish  Jesuit,  Father 
Netterville,  dining  and  playing  chess  with  the  great 
leader  of  the  Puritans.  These  manoeuvres  are  lightly 
covered  by  their  apologists  with  the  pretext  that  Jesuits 
knew  no  politics. 

There  is,  however,  another  side  to  the  story  of  the 
Jesuits  during  the  Civil  War  and  under  the  Common- 
wealth.    While  Father  Taunton  seems  to  see  nothing 


204  THE  JESUITS 

but  their  intrigues  with  Cromwell,  their  French  apologist 
sees  nothing  but  a  long  series  of  bloody  executions  at 
the  hands  of  the  Puritans,  Certainly,  whatever  the 
personal  inclination  of  Cromwell  was,  and  whatever  use 
he  may  have  made  of  the  Jesuits,  they  suffered  heavily 
in  the  Puritan  reaction.  Father  Netterville  himself,  as 
well  as  Father  Boyton,  Father  Corbie,  and  other  Irish 
Jesuits,  were  executed.  Father  Holland  had  been 
executed  in  1642,  Father  Corbie  suffered  the  horrible 
death  of  a  traitor  at  Tyburn  in  1644,  and  Father  Morse 
followed  him  in  1645.  Morse  was  permitted  to  spend 
the  night  before  his  execution  in  prayer  with  the 
Portuguese  ambassador,  and  representatives  of  the 
French,  Spanish,  and  German  ambassadors,  and  the 
French  and  Portuguese  ambassadors  accompanied  him 
devoutly  to  the  scaffold.  Father  Harrison  was  executed 
at  Lancaster  in  1650,  and  several  other  Jesuits  perished 
in  consequence  of  their  rigorous  treatment  in  prison.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  these  executions  took  place  in  the 
early  fury  of  the  Puritans,  and  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  Catholic  laity  were,  in  proportion  to  their 
numbers,  the  most  generous  and  ardent  supporters  of 
the  King.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  executions  cease  when 
Cromwell  becomes  Protector  (1653),  and  it  is  not  im- 
possible that,  as  we  are  told,  he  used  the  Jesuits  to  give 
a  secret  assurance  to  the  Vatican  in  regard  to  religious 
persecution. 

The  less  savage  penal  laws  were,  however,  severely 
enforced,  as  one  would  expect  in  that  Puritan  atmo- 
sphere, and  the  records  of  the  Jesuits  become  meagre 
and  uninteresting.  We  know  that  in  Ireland  they 
were  reduced  to  eighteen  fathers,  who,  living  in  the 
marshes  or  on  the  bleak  hillsides,  ministered  in  great 
danger  and  privation  to  the  oppressed  people.  In 
England    they  were   confined    to   an   obscure   and    dis- 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS  205 

creet  attempt  to  hold  together  the  persecuted  Catholics. 
The  domestic  quarrel  was  silenced  by  the  fresh  catas- 
trophe that  had  fallen  on  them. 

In  1660  Charles  11.  entered  upon  his  reign,  and 
Catholics  came  out  into  the  sunliorht  once  more.  It 
is  fairly  established  that  during  the  first  twelve  years 
of  his  reign  Charles  was  disposed  to  see  the  country 
return  to  its  old  faith.  His  personal  inclination  to 
Catholicism  was  so  little  profound  that  he  could  lightly 
abandon  it  the  moment  political  events  made  it  ex- 
pedient to  do  so,  but  he  was  not  insensible  to  the 
great  advantage  which  was  enjoyed  by  the  Catholic 
autocrats  of  France  and  Spain.  He  therefore  lent 
an  indulgent  ear  when,  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign, 
the  Catholics  petitioned  for  relief.  The  body  of  the 
nation  was  still  strenuously  Protestant,  and  the  cry  was 
raised  that  at  least  the  Jesuits  must  be  exempted 
from  any  measure  of  toleration.  Many  of  the  Catholics 
pressed  the  Jesuits  to  sacrifice  their  province  to  the 
general  good  of  the  Church,  but  we  can  hardly  be 
surprised  to  learn  that  they  emphatically  refused,  and 
a  long  wrangle  ensued.  When  it  was  urged  that  their 
teaching  that  the  Pope  could  depose  kings  unfitted 
them  to  remain  in  the  country,  they  promptly  repudiated 
that  doctrine.  They  remained  and  prospered.  After 
a  few  years,  in  fact,  they  were  brought  into  friendly 
relations  with  Charles  in  a  singular  and  secret  way. 

Their  constitutions  as  well  as  stringent  papal  decrees 
forbade  them  to  receive  men  of  irregular  birth  into  the 
Society,  but  we  have  often  found  them  doing  this,  when 
the  sin  of  the  parent  was  redeemed  by  the  distinction 
of  his  position,  and  we  can  imagine  their  joy  when  one 
of  the  illegitimate  children  of  Charles  11.  presented 
himself  at  their  Roman  novitiate  in  1668.  James  de 
la  Cloche,  as  the  youth  called  himself,   was  known  by 


2o6  THE  JESUITS 

them  to  be  In  reality  James  Stuart,  and  it  was  not 
unknown  that  Charles  was  attached  to  him  and  thought 
his  accession  to  the  throne  a  not  impossible  dream. 
Genial  letters  passed,  in  secret,  between  the  English 
monarch  and  the  General  of  the  Jesuits  ;  money  was 
sent  to  General  Oliva  from  London,  and  after  a  time 
the  young  Jesuit  was  stealthily  conveyed  to  London  and 
permitted  to  enjoy  the  embrace  of  his  father. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Society  prospered.  In 
1669  there  were  266  members  of  the  English  province. 
In  the  same  year  their  Provincial,  Father  Emmanuel 
Lobb,  converted  the  Duke  of  York  to  the  Roman 
faith,  and,  although  the  secret  was  carefully  guarded 
from  Protestants  for  a  time,  the  news  gave  great  joy 
and  hope  to  the  Catholics.  A  little  later  Charles 
himself  told  some  of  the  leading  Catholic  nobles  that 
he  wished  to  embrace  their  creed,  and  would  openly 
declare  it  if  he  could  be  assured  of  defence  against 
Protestant  anger.  In  the  following  year  a  secret 
treaty  was  signed  at  Dover  with  Louis  xiv.  Charles 
was  to  declare  his  adoption  of  the  Roman  faith,  and 
Louis  was,  in  case  of  need,  to  supply  French  troops 
for  the  subjection  of  the  English  Protestants  and,  in 
any  case,  to  provide  large  sums  of  money  for  the  un- 
scrupulous King  of  England.  Whether  Charles  and 
the  Catholic  nobles  really  believed  that  Louis  xiv. 
would  consider  the  conversion  of  England  a  sufficient 
reward  of  his  generosity,  it  would  be  difficult  to  say. 
The  design  was  treasonable  for  all  concerned. 

The  Jesuits  were  now  at  the  summit  of  a  wave 
of  hope.  The  King  was  a  secret  Catholic,  and  was 
married  to  a  Catholic,  Catherine  of  Braganza,  who  was 
under  their  control.  The  marriage  seemed  to  be 
sterile,  but  the  Duke  of  York,  the  next  heir  to  the 
throne,    was    more   devoted    to    them    than    any    other 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS  207 

prince  in  Europe.  The  alliance  with  France  was  con- 
trolled by  them,  as  Louis  xiv.  was  at  that  time  entirely 
docile  to  his  famous  Jesuit  confessor.  To  the  in- 
creasing horror  of  the  Protestants,  Jesuit  fathers  now 
began  to  appear  confidently  in  public.  Two  of  them 
ministered  to  the  Queen ;  two  guarded  the  conscience 
of  the  Duke  of  York.  At  the  same  time  war  was 
declared  with  Holland,  and  Charles  issued  his  Declara- 
tion of  Indulofence.  It  seemed  that  at  last  the  clouds 
were  being  swept  from  the  heavens,  and,  whatever 
the  political  development  was,  the  Jesuits  were  on 
the  way  to  attain  power  over  the  throne.  With 
English  laws  (or  royal  declarations)  and  French  troops 
they  would  soon  make  an  end  of  Protestantism  in 
England,  and,  with  the  combined  forces  of  England 
and  France,  return  to  the  attack  on  the  northern 
Protestants. 

Then  there  occurred  the  "  Popish  Plot,"  or  the 
imaginary  plot  of  Titus  Oates,  and  a  furious  storm 
whistled  about  their  ears.  Charles  had  soon  realised 
the  futility  of  the  French  alliance,  made  peace  with  the 
Dutch,  and  appeased  his  Protestant  subjects  by  revoking 
the  Declaration  of  Indulgence.  On  the  whole,  it  paid 
him  better  to  remain  a  Protestant.  The  natural  and 
proper  attitude  for  the  Catholics  was  now  to  await  in 
silence  the  accession  of  the  Duke  of  York,  as  Catherine 
remained  childless,  but  the  Protestants  were  already 
looking  to  William  of  Orange  and  not  obscurely  hinting 
that  the  Catholic  Duke  of  York  was  unfit  to  ascend  the 
throne.  Dutch  agents  distributed  money  among  nobles 
and  parliamentarians ;  French  and  Catholic  agents 
distributed  loitis  d'or  in  the  interest  of  York  and 
Catholicism.  Whatever  we  may  say  of  the  Dutch,  a 
secret  and  treasonable  correspondence  was  maintained  by 
the  Catholics  with   France.     This   correspondence  was 


208  THE  JESUITS 

maintained  on  the  English  side  by  a  zealous  secretary  of 
the  Duke  of  York,  named  Coleman,  a  pupil  and  friend  of 
the  Jesuits.  We  shall  see  that  Coleman  was  afterwards 
arrested,  and  his  papers  seized,  so  that  there  is  no 
dispute  about  the  fact  that  from  1675  to  1678  Coleman 
was  in  treasonable  correspondence  with  the  French. 
French  money  and,  in  emergency,  French  troops  were 
to  be  employed  for  the  destruction  of  the  Established 
Church.  The  letters  were  generally  in  cipher,  and  at 
times  the  secret  message  was  written  in  lemon-juice 
(which  would  become  legible  if  held  before  the  fire) 
between  the  lines. 

We  are  now  asked  to  believe  that  this  plot  originated 

in    the  exalted   imagination   of   Coleman,  and   that  the 

Jesuits    were    not    privy    to    his    correspondence    with 

Versailles.     Jesuits  in  London  were  on  such  a  footing 

at   St.   James's  Palace  that  they  were  allowed  to  hold 

their  secret  meetings  In  its  chambers,  and  on  the  French 

side  the   whole  correspondence   was   conducted  by  the 

famous  Jesuit  confessor  of  Louis  xiv.,  Pere  la  Chaise; 

and   the    apologists    would    have    us    believe    that    this 

correspondence,  of  such  profound  import  to  the  future 

of  the  Jesuit  body  in  England,  was  carried  on  for  several 

years  without    their    knowledge   and    connivance.     We 

should  have  to  believe,  in  fact,  that  even  the  Duke  of 

York   was   ignorant  of  it,  since    he    concealed   nothing 

from    the    Jesuits,    and    that    Pere    la    Chaise    did    not 

give    the    least    inkling    of   it    to   his   colleagues.     One 

would    need    an    extraordinary    measure    of    credulity 

to     imagine     the     Jesuits     frequenting     St.      James's 

Palace  week    after  week    for  years  and  being  entirely 

ignorant     that     their     friend    Coleman    was     receiving 

important    messages   all    the    time    from    their    French 

colleague. 

Hence  Mr.  Pollock  concludes,  in  his  recent  and  able 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS  209 

study  of  the  "Popish  Plot,"^   that  we   may   adopt,    or 
adapt,  the  familiar  verdict  of  Dryden  on  the  plot : — 

"Some  truth  there  was,  but  dashed  and  brewed  with  lies." 
It  is  now  universally  admitted  that  Titus  Oates  and 
his  chief  witnesses  were  little  more  than  reckless 
liars,  playing  upon  the  inflamed  Protestant  feeling  of 
the  time,  but  it  would  be  generally  admitted  that  a 
plot,  such  as  I  have  described,  was  really  afoot.  Since, 
however,  Mr.  Pollock  also  concludes  that  the  Jesuits 
probably  instigated  and  procured  the  murder  of  the 
London  magistrate,  it  is  necessary  to  reopen  the 
question. 

Titus  Oates,  a  litde  full-bodied  man  with  large 
purple  face  and  a  complete  lack  of  moral  feeling,  had 
joined  the  Catholic  Church  and  been  admitted  by  the 
Jesuits  to  their  college  at  Valladolid.  He  was  expelled, 
but  it  seems  likely  that  he  had  gleaned  some  informa- 
tion about  their  hopes  and  designs  in  England,  and, 
when  he  returned  to  London,  he  entered  into  communi- 
cation with  a  fanatical  anti-Papist  named  Dr.  Tonge, 
though  he  continued  to  move  amongst  the  Catholics. 
It  says  little  for  the  discrimination  of  the  Jesuits  that 
they  then  admitted  the  man  to  the  college  at  St.  Omer's, 
from  which  he  was  once  more  expelled.  Tonge  and  he 
then  brewed  the  Popish  Plot,  and  had  the  King  informed 
that  the  Jesuits  sought  his  life.  Charles  smiled,  and,  in 
September,  the  conspirators  went  before  a  well-known 
magistrate.  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey — a  Protestant, 
but  a  personal  friend  of  Coleman  and  well  disposed 
toward  the  Catholics — and  laid  information  of  a  ghastly 
project  of  the  Catholics  to  destroy  the  Protestants  of 
London.     The  situation — a  Catholic  heir  to  the  throne 

^  J.  Pollock,  The  Popish  Plot,  1903.  For  a  desperate  defence  of  the 
Catholic  position,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Pollock,  see  A.  Marks,  Who  Killed 
Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey  ?  1905. 

14 


210  THE  JESUITS 

awaiting  the  death  of  a  Protestant  king,  with  a  Dutch 
pretender  gaining  ground  in  London — seemed  so  ripe 
for  a  plot  that  London  was  seized  with  a  dramatic  terror, 
and  the  Privy  Council  was  compelled  to  listen  seriously 
to  a  story  which  was  palpably  false  in  many  details 
and  ridiculous  in  others.  Father  Whitbread,  the  Jesuit 
Provincial,  and  two  of  his  colleagues  were  arrested ; 
and,  when  the  letters  of  Coleman  were  seized  and  found 
to  have  references  to  "the  mighty  work  on  our  hands," 
the  story  seemed  to  be  confirmed.  Then  Sir  Edmund 
Berry  Godfrey  was  found  dead  in  a  ditch  at  the  foot  of 
Primrose  Hill,  and  the  city  was  shaken  with  frenzy.  For 
months  the  trained  bands  were  kept  under  arms  at  nights, 
and  citizens  slept  nervously  with  arms  beside  them, 
ready  to  spring  up  at  a  cry  that  the  firing  of  houses  and 
massacre  of  Protestants  had  begun. 

In  that  period  of  rage  and  panic  the  character  of  the 
witnesses  who  came  forward  to  claim  the  offered  reward 
was  not  examined,  their  inconsistencies  were  ignored, 
and  several  men  of  low  character  became  passing  rich 
by  swearing  away  the  lives  of  others.  Three  men,  who 
were  probably  innocent,  were  hanged  for  murdering 
Godfrey  in  Somerset  House  (then  the  Queen's  Palace), 
and  three  Jesuits  —  Father  Le  Fevre  (the  Queen's 
confessor),  Father  Walsh,  and  Father  Pritchard — were 
accused  of  havingr  hired  the  assassins.  In  the  end  seven 
Jesuit  priests  and  a  lay-brother  were  executed,  a  large 
number  of  Jesuits,  secular  priests,  and  laymen  were  im- 
prisoned, and  a  reign  of  terror  fell  upon  the  Catholic 
population.  It  seemed  as  if  the  great  dream  of  the 
conversion  of  England  was  once  more  ruthlessly 
dissipated. 

The  witness  Bedloe,  who  accused  the  Jesuits,  was 
so  mean  a  character,  and  so  well  rewarded  for  making 
a  charge  which    people    wanted,  that   we    must    ignore 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS 


21  I 


his  evidence.  If  we  attach  any  importance  to  the 
declarations  of  the  Catholic  witness  Prance,  as  Sir 
J.  Fitzjames  Stephen  and  others  have  done,  it  would 
seem  that  Bedloe  had  really  learned  something  about 
the  murder,  and  it  may  or  may  not  be  true  tliat  the 
Jesuits  were  involved  in  it.  We  certainly  cannot  admit 
this  on  the  evidence  of  Bedloe.  On  the  other  hand, 
few,  except  Roman  Catholics,  who  read  the  evidence 
will  doubt  that  Godfrey  had  been  murdered  and  his 
body  had  been  conveyed  to  the  spot  where  it  was 
found.  There  was  hardly  any  trace  of  blood  at  the 
spot,  and  Godfrey's  sword  had  been  driven  through  Kis 
body  in  a  way  which  precludes  the  idea  of  suicide.  It 
was  still  clearer  that  he  had  not  been  murdered  for 
the  purpose  of  robbery.  The  circumstances  point  to  a 
political  assassination,  and,  as  there  is  ample  evidence 
that  Godfrey  expected  an  attack  on  his  life,  it  is  natural 
to  suppose  that  he  was  removed  lest  he  should  betray 
some  secret  of  which  he  had  become  possessed. 

The  hypothesis  of  Mr.  Pollock  is  that  Coleman 
had  told  Godfrey  of  the  meeting  of  the  Jesuits  in  St. 
James's  Palace.  Gates  had  declared  that  the  Jesuits 
met  to  concert  their  plot,  at  the  White  Horse  Tavern 
in  the  Strand,  on  the  24th  April  1678.  James  11. 
admitted  some  years  afterwards  that  the  Jesuits  met 
on  that  date,  but  at  St.  James's  Palace,  and  the  Jesuit 
Father  Warner  has  left  it  on  record  that  they  did  hold 
their  Provincial  Congregation  on  that  date  in  St.  James's 
Palace.  If  it  were  known  at  that  time  that  forty 
Jesuits  had  held  a  secret  council  in  the  Duke's  Palace 
the  consequences  might  have  been  very  serious,  and 
there  is  therefore  some  plausibility  in  the  statement 
of  a  later  witness,  Dugdale,  that  the  Protestant  magis- 
trate was  removed  because  he  learned  this  fact  from 
Coleman.     We  know    that    Godfrey   secretly  consulted 


212  THE  JESUITS 

Coleman  after  he  had  received  the  depositions  of  Oates 
and  Tonge ;  we  have  good  reason  to  believe  that 
he  laid  those  depositions  before  Coleman  ;  and  it  is 
not  improbable  that  Coleman  refuted  the  testimony  of 
Oates  by  disclosing  that  the  Jesuit  meeting  took  place 
in  James's  Palace,  not  in  the  White  Horse.  It  would 
assuredly  be  a  grave  matter  for  the  Jesuits  if  this  were 
known,  and  it  would  almost  be  enough  to  prevent  the 
succession  of  James  ii. 

This  must  remain  a  mere  hypothesis.  I  may  recall 
that,  according  to  the  teaching  of  many  Jesuit  theo- 
logians, the  assassination  of  a  man  in  order  to  prevent 
grave  harm  to  the  Church  was  not  a  crime,  but  a 
laudable  act.  But  many  others,  besides  the  Jesuits, 
would  be  interested  in  taking  drastic  measures  to  ensure 
the  position  of  the  Duke  of  York,  nor  is  it  more  than 
a  conjecture  that  Godfrey  learned  of  the  meeting.  It 
is  possible  that  this  meeting  was  by  no  means  an 
innocent  "  congregation "  of  Jesuits  to  discuss  their 
affairs  ;  and  it  is  just  as  possible  that  the  real  cause  of 
the  murder  has  never  yet  occurred  to  us.  It  remains 
one  of  the  numerous  unsolved  problems  in  the  story  of 
the  Jesuits. 

The  remaining  years  of  the  reign  of  Charles  ii.  were 
years  of  suffering  for  the  Jesuits.  They  continued  to 
enter  the  country  in  disguise  and  minister  to  the  fiercely 
persecuted  Catholics.  We  learn  that  in  1682  the 
Province  counted  295  members,  and  that  in  1685  they 
had  no  less  than  102  priests  working  in  England.  In 
those  harsh  times  they  endured  the  worst  rigours  of  an 
apostolic  life.  Whether  or  no  they  were  innocent  of 
murder,  many  Catholics  felt  that  their  presence  in 
England  was  inflammatory  and  their  conduct  indiscreet, 
and  familiar  houses  were  closed  against  them.  Several 
of  them  died   from   the   privations    which   they   had   to 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS  213 

suffer.  But  an  ardent  and  steady  hope  fired  them  to 
meet  their  perils  and  sufferings,  and  in  the  first  week 
of  February  1685  the  news  rang  through  the  stricken 
and  scattered  ranks  that  Charles  was  dead  and  a 
devoted  Catholic  about  to  ascend  the  throne  of 
England. 

The  historian  who  realises  that  this  was  to  be  the 
last  chance  which  the  fates  would  offer  to  the  Catholic 
Church  of  obtaining  power   and    majority   in   England 
reads  the  story  of   those    three    years  of  triumph  and 
ineptitude    with     strange     reflections.      Never     was    a 
great  opportunity    more    tragically  wasted.     The  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  nation,  the  officials,  and  the 
Parliament  were   not    merely  Protestant,   but  feverishly 
vigilant  and  intensely  suspicious  of  the  Jesuits.      It  was 
a  time  for   infinite  patience  and  restrained   diplomacy, 
and,  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  the  Vatican   itself,  and 
Cardinal   Howard   who    advised  the   Papacy  at   Rome, 
fully  realised  the  need.     But  the  Jesuits  were  in  com- 
mand, and   they  gave   the  most   flagrant  exhibition   in 
their  annals  of  the  unwisdom  and  mischief  of  their  dis- 
tinctive methods.     Although  a  Protestant  prince  grimly 
smiled    on    their   blunders   in   Holland,  and    his  agents 
m  England  eagerly  magnified   every  indiscretion,   they 
proceeded  with  the  most  imprudent  defiance  of  Protestant 
feeling.     Within  two  years  they  were  spreading  schools 
and    churches    over     London,     talking    of    the    speedy 
capture    of  the   universities    and    the    magistracy,    and 
placing    one    of   their    own    number    among    the    Privy 
Councillors.     And  in  less  than  four  years  James  11.  was 
flying  ignominiously  for   France,  with  the  Jesuits  in  his 
train. 

This  romantic  episode  has  inspired  one  of  the 
finest  chapters  of  Macaulay's  History  of  England, 
and,    whatever    blame    be    laid     on     the    shoulders    of 


214  THE  JESUITS 

Sunderland,  there  is  no  question  but  that  the  Jesuits 
were  very  largely  responsible  for  the  unhappy  counsels 
of  James  ii.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  lodge  Father 
Edward  Petre  in  the  princely  chambers  of  St.  James's 
Palace,  and  put  the  Chapel  Royal  under  his  charge  ; 
and  in  a  short  time  he  made  Petre  Clerk  of  the  Closet. 
The  prisons  were  opened,  the  recusants  now  emerged 
boldly  from  their  secluded  homes,  and  the  Jesuits  sum- 
moned their  continental  colleagues  to  come  and  share 
the  work  of  harvesting.  New  chapels  were  opened  in 
London  ;  and  in  more  than  one  case,  when  other  priests 
proposed  to  open  chapels,  royal  influence  cut  short  their 
design  and  secured  the  buildings  for  the  Jesuits.  Free 
"undenominational"  schools  were  opened,  and  hundreds 
of  Protestant,  as  well  as  Catholic,  boys  were  attracted 
to  these  insidious  nurseries  of  the  faith  by  the  unwonted 
absence  of  fees. 

In  all  this  we  may  see  only  undue  haste  and 
indiscretion,  but  the  policy  developed  rapidly.  When 
Parliament  refused  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the 
monarch  and  his  advisers,  he  proceeded  by  "  dispensing 
power,"  and  tampered  with  the  judges  in  order  to 
have  his  power  ratified.  Four  Catholics  were  intro- 
duced into  the  Privy  Council,  and  the  nobles  and 
officials  gradually  realised  that  baptism  was  the  first 
qualification  for  higher  office.  When  the  Bishop  of 
London  refused  to  suspend  a  priest  for  attacking 
Romanism,  an  ecclesiastical  commission  was  created 
to  suspend  the  bishop  and  stifle  the  voices  of  the 
Protestant  clergy.  On  his  own  authority  James  sus- 
pended the  penal  measures,  issued  a  Declaration  of 
Indulgence,  interfered  with  the  rights  of  Protestants 
in  Ireland,  solemnly  received  a  papal  Nuncio  at  Windsor, 
and  sent  the  Earl  of  Castlemaine  as  ambassador  to  the 
Papacy.     The    civil    and    military   offices    were   rapidly 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS  215 

transferred  to  Catholics,  and  before  the  end  of  1686 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  began  to  feel  the  illegal  pressure 
of  the  royal  authority  in  favour  of  the  Catholic  creed. 

As  these  things  coincided  with  the  Revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  and  persecution  of  the  Protestants 
in  France  (from  which  James,  like  his  brother,  received 
royal  alms)  the  Protestants  saw  before  them  a  prospect 
of  violence  and  persecution.  Yet  James  multiplied  his 
indiscreet  and,  in  many  cases,  illegal  acts  with  blind 
fanaticism.  When  the  inevitable  catastrophe  came,  the 
Jesuits  deplored  the  injudiciousness  of  their  patron  and 
cast  all  the  blame  on  Sunderland.  While,  however, 
Sunderland  remained  a  Protestant  until  a  few  months 
before  the  fall  of  James,  the  monarch  was  throughout 
the  three  years  surrounded  by  Jesuits  and  abjectly 
devoted  to  them,  A  letter  written  by  the  Jesuits  of 
Liege  to  the  Jesuits  of  Freiburg,  and  intercepted  by 
the  Dutch,  informs  us  of  the  influence  they  had  on 
James  11,^  He  is  a  devoted  son  of  the  Society ;  he 
is  determined  to  convert  England  by  its  means ;  he 
refuses  to  allow  any  Jesuit  to  kiss  his  hand.  And 
the  public  action  corresponds  to  the  secret  letter. 
Father  Warner,  the  Provincial  of  the  Society,  is  the 
King's  confessor ;  Father  Petre,  a  vain  and  pompous 
mediocrity,  is  so  much  esteemed  by  him  that  he  besieges 
the  Vatican  with  a  demand  of  a  red  hat  for  Petre. 
Already  courtiers  pleasantly  address  the  conceited  Jesuit 
as  "Your  Eminence,"  But  Innocent  xi.  is  stern  and 
will  not  countenance  the  blunders  of  the  English  monarch. 
Castlemaine  vainly  seeks  to  impress  the  Pope  with 
his  ambassadorial  splendour,  and  is  forced  to  return 
with  a  curt  reminder  that  Jesuits  cannot  receive  dignities. 
So    James    makes    the    Jesuit   a  Privy    Councillor,  and 

^  As  the  letter  is  inconvenient,  Crdtineau-Joly  suggests  that  it  was  forged. 
But  it  is  admitted  by  the  Jesuit  Father  Foley,  without  demur,  in  his  Records. 


2i6  THE  JESUITS 

Father  Petre  takes  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  (with  its 
supposed  heresy)  and  sits  in  clerical  garb  in  the  supreme 
council  of  the  land.  His  Roman  superiors  have  not  a 
word  to  say,  either  when  Petre  acquiesces  in  the  demand 
for  a  red  hat  or  when  he  becomes  a  Privy  Councillor. 
M.  Cretineau-Joly  is  shocked  ;  Father  Taunton  opines 
that  the  whole  policy  is  directed  by  the  Jesuit  authorities 
at  Rome. 

In  later  years,  when  the  Jesuits  and  courtiers  gathered 
about  the  fallen  monarch  in  his  pleasant  exile,  the  entire 
blame  for  the  folly  was  naturally  laid  upon  the  wicked 
Earl  of  Sunderland,  and  historians  have,  perhaps,  paid 
unnecessarily  serious  attention  to  this  charge.  We 
need  not  stay  to  analyse  the  possible  motives  of 
Sunderland,  who  assuredly  had  no  sincere  wish  to  see 
England  return  to  its  old  creed.  Like  Louis  xiv., 
Pedro  I.,  and  Charles  ii.,  who  then  ruled  in  France, 
Portugal,  and  Spain,  James  ii.  was  surrounded  by  a 
junta  of  Jesuits,  and  he  was  even  more  docile  than  his 
fellow-monarchs  to  their  sug-orestions.  Those  who  find 
it  possible  may  believe  that  these  Jesuits  were  so  re- 
luctant to  interfere  in  politics  that  they  silently  permitted 
an  unscrupulous  minister  to  blast  the  prospects  of  their 
Society  and  Church.  We  have,  on  the  contrary,  sufficient 
documentary  evidence  that  they  applauded,  if  they  did 
not  inspire,  every  rash  step  taken  by  the  King,  and  we 
recognise  their  familiar  maxims  in  his  whole  policy. 
They  were,  no  doubt,  well  acquainted  with  the  political 
principles  advocated  by  their  colleague,  Adam  Contzen, 
a  Jesuit  professor  at  Munich.  In  a  work  which  he 
published  in  1620  iyPoliticorum  libri  decern),  Father 
Contzen,  incidentally,  proposed  some  effective  devices 
by  which  a  Catholic  monarch  might  lead  his  heretical 
country  back  to  the  faith.  After  very  properly  con- 
demning "the  impious  doctrine  of  Machiavelli,"  Father 


UNDER  THE  STUARTS  217 

Contzen  enumerates  a  number  of  measures  that  should 
be  taken,  and  he  expressly  mentions  England  'as  a 
field  of  experiment.  Violence  is  recommended  as  an 
obvious  course  ;  the  leaders  of  the  heretics  must  be 
expelled,  and  they  must  be  forbidden  to  hold  either 
public  or  private  meetings.  But  the  distinctive  sug- 
gestions of  the  learned  Jesuit  are,  that  the  prince  must 
cover  his  initial  efforts  with  a  profession  of  toleration, 
he  must  first  choose  for  attack  those  heresiarchs  who 
are  unpopular,  he  must  ingeniously  set  the  rival  sects 
to  rend  each  other  and  "  take  care  that  they  often  dispute 
together,"  he  must  enact  that  no  marriage  shall  take 
place  unless  it  be  preceded  by  a  profession  of  the  true 
faith,  and  he  must  transfer  all  the  offices  and  dignities 
of  the  State  to  Catholics. 

On  these  principles,  or  maxims,  James  11.  was 
proceeding  in  his  zealous  attempt  to  destroy  the  Church 
of  England  in  five  years.  All  the  Lord  Lieutenants 
and  most  of  the  judges  were  already  Catholic,  the  Jesuits 
boasted,  and  in  a  short  time  all  the  magistrates  in 
England  would  be  Catholic.  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
was  already  promised  to  the  Jesuits,  and  Oxford  was 
not  showing  a  very  stern  resistance  to  their  advance. 
Soon  all  education  and  civil  and  military  government 
would  be  in  Catholic  hands.  The  Queen  had  as  yet 
given  no  heir  to  the  throne,  it  was  true,  but  they  had 
ground  to  believe  that,  if  he  died  childless,  James  would 
leave  the  English  crown  at  the  disposal  of  Louis  xiv. 

Then  James,  besides  sending  Judge  Jeffreys  to  deal 
with  insurgents  in  the  provinces,  made  a  bolder  attack 
upon  the  Church.  He  ordered  the  bishops  to  direct 
the  clergy  to  read  from  their  pulpits  his  declaration  of 
liberty  of  conscience.  It  is  well  known  how  seven  of 
the  bishops  refused,  were  committed  to  the  Tower, 
and  acquitted    by  the  jury,  to   the    frenzied  delight  of 


2i8  THE  JESUITS 

the  city.  Just  at  this  time  the  Queen  was  delivered  of 
a  son,  and  the  announcement  was  greeted  with  derision. 
Another  trick  of  the  Jesuits,  people  said  ;  but,  genuine 
or  not  genuine,  the  child  meant  a  continuance  of  the 
tyranny  of  the  Catholic  minority,  and  the  Prince  of 
Oranoe  was  invited  to  come  and  seize  the  crown.  He 
set  sail  in  four  months ;  and  before  Christmas,  William 
entered  London,  and  James  and  his  Jesuits  were  in 
exile.  Six  of  them  shared  his  luxurious  retreat  at 
St.  Germains,  and  discussed  with  him  the  naughtiness 
of  Sunderland  and  the  appalling  wreck  of  their  hasty 
enterprise. 

The  English  Province  of  the  Society  continued  to 
exist,  and  had  a  large  number  of  members,  until  the 
suppression.  Although  the  penal  laws  were  again 
enforced,  and  it  was  decreed  that  any  Jesuit  who  was 
found  in  the  kingdom  after  25th  March  1700  would 
be  imprisoned  for  life,  the  fathers  still  exhibited  the 
courage  and  devotion  which  do  so  much  to  redeem 
their  errors.  In  1701  there  were  340  members  of  the 
Province,  though  most  of  these  were  in  Belgium  or 
with  the  Catholic  colonists  in  Maryland,  In  1708  we 
find  158  members  of  the  Society  in  England,  generally 
living  in  the  houses  of  the  Catholic  nobility  and  gentry. 
Their  work  was  now  almost  confined  to  a  ministra- 
tion to  the  depressed  Catholics.  They  reported  only 
3000  conversions  to  the  faith  between  1700  and 
1708,  and  many  of  these  were  soldiers  quartered  in 
Belgium.  In  171 1  they  had  12,000  Catholics  under 
their  spiritual  charge.  But  even  in  this  restricted 
sphere  they  maintained  the  struggle  against  the  secular 
clergy,  and  published  many  pamphlets  against  them. 
"Jansenism"  was  the  latest  heresy  they  had  discovered, 
and  they  denounced  the  secular  clergy  to  Rome  as 
tainted    with    it.     At    last,    as    the    eighteenth    century 


UNDER  THE   STUARTS  219 

wore  on,  they  realised  that  all  these  old  conflicts  were 
yielding-  to  a  mighty  struggle.  The  Society  is  fighting 
for  its  life  against  Catholic  opponents.  In  1759  it  is 
suppressed,  with  great  ignominy,  in  Portugal;  in  1762 
it  is  suppressed  in  France;  in  1767  even  Spain  ruth- 
lessly expels  the  body  to  which  it  had  given  birth. 

The    English    Jesuits   had   already  begun   to  suffer 
from  this  terrible  campaign.     When  Louis  xv.  ordered 
the    expulsion    of   the    Jesuits    from    his    kingdom,    the 
Paris    Parlement   saw   to    the    closing   of   their   college 
at    St.    Omer.     A    long   procession    of  waggons,    con- 
taining the  teachers  and  pupils,  trailed   drearily  across 
the   country,  and  deposited  them,   in  great  misery  and 
dejection,    at    Bruges.     There,    ten    years    later,    they 
suffer  the  supreme   punishment   of   suppression    by  the 
Papacy,  and  the  Privy  Council  of  Brussels  carries  out 
the  sentence  with  the  harshness  which  in  every  country 
teaches   them    how   deeply    they    are   hated.     The   90 
members   of  the    English   Province  who   are  found   in 
Belgium,    and    the    184  fathers    who    are    at    work    in 
England,     sadly     divest     themselves     of    the     familiar 
costume  and  face  the  bleak  future.     This  is  the  tragic 
culmination    of    two    centuries    of    heroic    struggle   and 
sacrifice ;  it  is  the  price  of  the  blunders  and  crimes  of 
their   politicians   and    the    casuistic    excesses    of    their 
theologians. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS 

The    story  of  the    Jesuits   in   France  from  the  middle 
of  the    seventeenth    to    the    middle   of  the    eighteenth 
century    is   rich    in    material    for   the    interpretation    of 
their    character.     We    find    every    conceivable    type    of 
Jesuit    rising    to    prominence    at    some   period    in    the 
long  chronicle.     While  a  Father  Frangois   Regis  or  a 
Julien     Manvir    sustains    the    finest    traditions    of    the 
Society    by   a    splendid    expenditure    of   a    noble   char- 
acter   in    the    service    of    the    squalid    peasantry,    his 
colleagues  smile   indulgently  upon    the    perfumed  vices 
of  nobles  and  princes,  enter  into  the  most  unscrupulous 
intrigues  for  the  destruction  of  their  theological  oppo- 
nents, and  encourage  Louis   xiv.   in  the  belief  that  he 
may    do    penance    for   his   sins    on    the    backs    of    the 
Jansenists    and    Protestants.     While,    durino-    a    whole 
generation,  they  direct  the  fingers  of  the  Pope  in  virtue 
of   their   supreme    and  peculiar  zeal  for    his    authority, 
they,  in   the   next  generation,  secure  the  praise  of  the 
Parlement  and   the  gratitude  of  the    court  by  a  most 
extraordinary    intrigue    against    the    Papacy.      In    the 
new-built  palace  of  Versailles  they  obtain  a  paramount 
influence  over  the  greatest  autocrat  of  modern  history  ; 
they   fill    the    Gallican    Church   with   prelates   who   will 
obey    their    commands;    they   crush    Protestantism    in 
France;    and    they  seem   to   have   almost  attained  the 
great  ideal  of  their  Society — the  control  of  the  courts 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS     221 

which  control  the  earth.  And  within  another  genera- 
tion their  varied  enemies  unite  and  drive  them  igno- 
miniously  from  the  country. 

This  singular  history  centres,  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  time,  on  the  struggle  between  the  Jansenists  and 
the  Jesuits,  the  origin  of  which  may  be  briefly  recalled. 
I  have  in  earlier  chapters  referred  to  the  theological 
victory  of  the  Jesuits  over  Michel  de  Bay  at  Louvain, 
and  to  the  fierce  and  protracted  struggle  they  had  with 
the  Dominican  theologians  in  Spain  and  Italy.  It  may 
be  remembered  that  this  furious  stru2["2fle  as  to  the  real 
relations  of  divine  grace  and  the  human  will  had  to  be 
suppressed  by  the  Papacy,  and  all  further  controversy 
on  the  subject  was  forbidden.  When  therefore,  in  the 
thirties  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Jesuits  heard 
that  a  certain  brilliant  and  virtuous  abbe  at  Paris  and 
a  learned  theologian  of  Belgium  were  plotting  to 
introduce  a  new  work  on  the  subject,  they  watched 
them  with  care. 

Jean  Duvergier  de  Hauranne,  or  the  abbe  de 
St.  Cyran,  was  an  energetic  Basque  who  had  finished 
his  theological  studies  at  Louvain  University.  There 
he  had  become  intimate  with  a  Belgian  student  named 
Jansen,  who  had  views,  opposed  to  those  of  the 
Jesuits,  on  the  action  of  grace.  St.  Cyran,  returning 
to  France,  became  a  secret  apostle  of  these  views, 
and  hinted  that  a  learned  defence  of  them  was  being 
written.  It  happened  that  at  that  time  a  Puritan 
movement  was  arising  within  the  French  Church,  as 
a  protest  against  the  extreme  laxity  of  the  age ;  and, 
as  the  Jesuits  were  regarded  by  the  Puritans  as 
encouraging  this  laxity  by  their  remarkable  works 
on  casuistry  (as  we  shall  see  later),  there  was  a  pre- 
disposition to  accept  anti- Jesuit  views.  Further,  there 
was   already    a    tradition    of    hostility   to    the    Jesuits 


222  THE  JESUITS 

amone  the  Puritans.  The  chief  centre  of  the  ascetic 
movement  was  the  famous  abbey  of  Port  Royal,  and 
the  abbess  of  Port  Royal,  Angelique  Arnauld,  was 
a  daughter  of  the  great  lawyer  who  had  more  than 
once  formulated  the  grievances  of  the  Parlement 
against  the  Society.  Several  members  of  his  large 
and  brilliant  family  were  drawn  into  the  movement. 

Angdique    Arnauld    had    been    committed    to    the 
abbey    at    a    very    early    age    by    her    parents  ;    and, 
although    it    shared    the    general   laxity  of   convents  at 
that    time,    she    chafed    for    years    against    her    fate. 
The    abbey  was    in    a    wild,   marshy,   unhealthy  valley, 
about    eighteen    miles    from    Paris.      In    the    course    of 
time  Angelique  was  converted,  and  she  became  abbess 
of  the  convent,  and  devoted  all  her  energy  and  talent 
to    the    purification    of    its    life.      It    became    a   famous 
garden    of    conventual     virtues,    and,     when    the    un- 
healthiness  of  the  valley  compelled  the  nuns  to  transfer 
their  establishment   to  Paris    in    1626,   every  pietist  in 
the  city  was  attracted  to   the  abbey  of  Port  Royal  de 
Paris.        St.     Cyran     fell     into     correspondence     with 
Angelique,  defended  a  book  of  hers  which  the  Jesuits 
denounced,  and  in   1633   became    the    spiritual  director 
of  the  community.     The  convent  now  had  pretensions 
to  be   a   school    of   fine   taste    in    letters   as  well  as  of 
virtue,    and    numbers    of   the    more    sincerely    religious 
writers  and  ladies  of  Paris    looked    to    it  as  a  kind  of 
club.     The    Jesuits    regarded    this    independent   school 
of   virtue   and    theology  with   some  apprehension,  and, 
when  Jansen  died  in   1638,  and  whispers  of  a  posthu- 
mous publication  of   his  great  work  were    intercepted, 
St.   Cyran  was   imprisoned    in    Vincennes    by    order   of 
Richelieu.     We  need  not  press    the  suspicion  that  the 
cardinal    was    instigated    by    the    Jesuits.     Jansen    had 
satirically  assailed  the  policy  of  Richelieu  in  a  political 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS      223 

work,  and  the  cardinal  may  have  thought  it  advisable 
to  seize  the  papers  of  St.  Cyran  in  order  to  find  some 
clue  to  the  mysterious  work  of  Jansen  which  his 
admirers  were  secretly  promising  to  the  world.  St. 
Cyran  also  had  declined  to  oblige  the  cardinal,  and 
he  assailed  doctrines  which  Richelieu  had  espoused 
in  his  early  theological  works.  It  is,  however,  to  be 
noted  that,  when  St.  Cyran  was  released,  at  the 
death  of  Richelieu  (1642),  and  his  papers  restored, 
it  was  found  that  the  Jesuits  had  appropriated  some 
of  his  letters. 

St.  Cyran  continued  to  direct  the  movement  from 
Vincennes,  and  it  entered  upon  a  singular  and 
momentous  development.  Angelique  inspired  her 
nephew,  the  brilliant  young  lawyer  Le  Maistre,  her 
brother  Antoine,  and  other  able  and  serious  young  men, 
with  her  sentiments,  and  they  determined  to  live  a 
communal  and  ascetic  life.  In  1637  they  took  posses- 
sion of  the  deserted  buildings  of  Port  Royal  aux 
Champs,  and  were  soon  known  to  all  Paris  as  the 
virtuous  "  Solitaries  "  of  the  bleak  and  remote  valley. 
The  joy  of  the  good  clergy  and  the  amusement  of 
the  frivolous  were  equalled  by  the  exasperation  of  the 
Jesuits.  The  Solitaries  passed  stern  censure  on  the 
leniency  of  Jesuit  confessors ;  and  their  spirit  spread 
like  a  ferment  through  the  city,  and  had  the  singular 
effect  of  inducing  penitents  to  abandon  their  Jesuit 
confessors  because  they  had  been  converted  to  virtue. 
At  the  same  time  the  rumour  spread  that  Jansen's 
great  work  was  about  to  see  the  light.  He  had  died 
in  1638,  leaving  his  manuscript  in  the  charge  of  his 
friends  at  Louvain.  The  local  Jesuits  watched  their 
movements  with  the  assiduity  of  detectives,  and  dis- 
covered that  the  work  was  in  the  press.  It  is  acknow- 
ledged that  they  bribed  the  printers,  who  were  sworn 


224  THE  JESUITS 

to  secrecy,  to  give  them  sheets  of  the  book,  and  they 
complained  to  the  Nuncio  that  the  Louvain  professors 
were  about  to  issue  a  work  on  the  forbidden  topic  of 
grace  and  free  will.  Intrigue  was  met  by  counter- 
intrigue, — a  piquant  situation  In  view  of  the  sacred 
theme  of  the  book, — and  it  was  published  in  1640,  and 
immediately  afterwards  published  also  at  Paris, 

This  small,  innocent,  and  academic  treatise,  the 
Augustimis  of  Jansen,  was  destined  to  set  Europe 
aflame  for  decades.  The  historic  controversy  of  St. 
Augustine  and  the  Welsh  priest  Pelagius,  which  it 
recalled,  was  far  surpassed  by  this  modern  effort  to 
conciliate  the  freedom  of  the  human  will  with  the  com- 
pelling power  of  grace.  Pulpits  and  schools  rang  with 
mutual  anathemas ;  pamphlets  of  ponderous  learning 
and  biting  irony  mingled  with  the  latest  chro7iique 
scandalcuse  on  the  book-stalls.  But  the  Jesuit  was  never 
content  with  that  free  arena  of  controversy  in  which  he 
claimed  to  excel.  Rome  must  condemn  his  opponents, 
and  the  familiar  intrigues  were  set  afoot  at  Rome.  The 
Inquisition  denounced  the  book  on  the  ground  that  the 
subject  was  prohibited.  That  did  not  suffice  for  the 
Jesuits,  nor  did  it  check  the  flow  of  argument  and 
invective;  and  on  6th  March  1642,  Urban  viii. 
solemnly  condemned  the  book.  The  Jansenists  had 
now,  however,  friends  among  the  prelates,  and  the 
bull  was  not  published  in  France  with  the  customary 
solemnity.  The  controversy  still  raged  sullenly,  only 
restrained  by  Richelieu's  spies  ;  and  when  he  died  and 
St.  Cyran  was  released  (in  the  same  year),  it  broke  out 
again  into  flagrant  publicity. 

Meantime,  a  new  champion  had  entered  the  field, 
and  the  attack  on  the  Jesuits  assumed  a  more  personal 
form.  Anne  de  Rohan,  Princess  of  Guemenee  and 
mistress  of   Archbishop  Paul  de  Gondi  (later  Cardinal 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH   THE  JANSENISTS      225 

de  Retz),  fell  under  the  influence  of  Arnauld  d'Andilly 

and  St.  Cyran,  and  their  oratory  and  her  advancing  years 

persuaded  her  that  the  hour  had  come  to  turn  to'Virtue. 

She    had    had  a  Jesuit    confessor,   Hke  so  many  of  the 

noble  dames  and  bejewelled  prelates  who  did  not  deign 

even    to    conceal    their   amours,    and    he   was    naturafly 

piqued  to  find  that,  as  the  princess  advanced  in  virtue, 

she  discarded  him  in  favour  of  St.  Cyran.     There  is  no 

doubt  whatever  of  Anne  de  Rohan's  sincerity,  and  it  is 

little  short  of  infamous  for    Cr^tineau-Joly  to   say  that 

she  "placed  her  elegant  coquetries  under  the  safeguard 

of  the  aged  Arnauld  d'Andilly,"  and  that  she  was  at  the 

same  time  "the  guest  of  Port  Royal  and  the  mistress  of 

Paul  de  Gondi."     The  discarded  Jesuit  submitted  to  her 

a  manuscript  attack  on  the  more  rigorous  principles  she 

had  embraced ;  Anne  de  Rohan  showed  this  indignantly 

to    St.     Cyran  ;    and    the    brilliant    young    brother    of 

Ang^lique  Arnauld  was  requested  to  reply.      His  book 

De  la  frdquente  Com77iu7iion  (i  641)  led  to  a  controversy 

as  acrid  and  noisy  as  that  over  the  Augtistinus. 

Arnauld  had  foreseen  the  attack  ;  he  had  submitted 
the  manuscript  to  theologians,  and,  when  it  was  de- 
nounced by  the  angry  Jesuits,  he  was  able  to  secure  the 
support  of  four  archbishops,  twelve  bishops,  and  a  number 
of  doctors  of  divinity.  This  alliance  of  a  powerful 
minority  of  the  higher  French  clergy  with  the  Jansenists 
was  destined  to  give  the  Jesuits  serious  trouble.  One 
cannot  quite  endorse  the  statement  that  all  the  virtuous 
men  in  the  French  episcopacy  were  opposed  to  the 
Jesuits,  and  all  the  vicious  prelates  in  favour  of  them. 
But  it  was  an  age  so  flagrandy  immoral  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  higher  clergy  had  their  mistresse^  their 
hounds  and  hawks,  and  their  boxes  at  the  opera,  while 
on  the  fringe  of  the  Church  were  crowds  of  ^W  (often 
not  priests)  who  led  very  dissolute  lives.  The  le'^uits 
15  ^^ 


226  THE  JESUITS 

had  for  some  time,  in  virtue  of  their  influence  at  court, 
had  a  voice  in  the  appointment  of  prelates — we  shall 
find  them  entirely  controlling  it  in  a  few  years — and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  they  nominated  men  of  little 
character  who  were  willing  to  support  them ;  just  as 
they  accepted  for  the  English  mission  priests  of  little 
culture  or  character,  because  they  could  be  the  more 
easily  dominated.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Jansenists 
represented,  above  all  things,  a  rigorous  standard  of 
Christian  character.  The  name  which  the  Jesuits  have 
fastened  on  them  implies  that  they  were  wedded  to  certain 
academic,  if  not  heretical,  theories  of  Bishop  Jansen. 
This  is  untrue.  They  were  mostly  laymen,  indifferent  to 
speculative  theology,  pleading  only  that  the  Christian 
faith  demanded  a  stricter  standard  of  conduct  than 
French  Christians  generally  exhibited.  The  correct 
name  for  them  is  the  Puritans. 

Hence  it  is  largely,  not  entirely,  true  that  the  best  of 
the  prelates  were  opposed  to  the  Jesuits.  It  is  now 
known  that  even  Bossuet,  who  sternly  opposed  the 
Jesuits,  had  his  secret  amours,  and  there  were,  on  the 
other  hand,  men  of  ascetic  life,  if  not  very  clear  intelli- 
gence (like  Vincent  de  Paul),  on  the  side  of  the  Jesuits. 
However,  the  open  declaration  of  so  large  and  powerful 
a  body  of  the  clergy  exasperated  the  Jesuits,  and  the 
war  of  sermons  and  pamphlets  reached  a  stage  of  incan- 
descence. Father  Nouet  denounced  Arnauld  as  "fan- 
tastic, melancholic,  lunatic,  blind,  malicious,  furious," 
and  showered  upon  him  such  concrete  epithets  as 
serpent,  scorpion,  wolf,  and  monster.  Arnauld  had 
ventured  to  say  that  sinful  ladies  must  keep  away  from 
the  Holy  Sacrament.  But  Father  Nouet  went  on  to 
assail  the  sixteen  prelates  who  had  approved  Arnauld's 
book,  and  this  led  to  his  undoing.  To  their  great 
mortification  the  Jesuit  superiors  were  forced  to  disavow 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS     227 

and  reprimand  their  preacher,  and  the  Jansenists 
triumphed.  The  Jesuits  retorted,  however,  by  intrigue 
at  the  court,  and  induced  Mazarin  and  the  Que'en- 
Regent  to  order  Arnauld  to  go  and  defend  his  book  at 
Rome.  This  was  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  the 
Gallican  Church,  and  the  university,  the  Parlement,  and 
the  clergy  protested  so  violently  that  the  project  had  to 
be  abandoned. 

St.  Cyran  had  died  in  the  meantime  (in  1643)  and 
Arnauld  was  leader  of  the  growing  and  powerful  body 
of  Puritans.  As  the  next  move  of  the  Jesuits  at  court 
would  be  to  secure  a  lettre  de  cachet,  and  lodge  him  in 
the  Bastille  or  Vincennes,  he  returned  to  the  provinces 
and  the  struggle  was  transferred  to  Rome.  The  prelates 
who  had  approved  Arnauld's  book  appealed  to  the  Pope 
in  its  favour,  and  a  learned  theologian  was  sent  to  Rome 
to  defeat  the  manoeuvres  of  the  Jesuits.  As  a  result, 
after  two  years  of  violent  discussion,  the  book  was 
declared  free  of  heresy.  The  Jesuits,  who  had  declared 
that  thirty  propositions  in  the  book  were  unsound,  now 
concentrated  upon  an  innocent  parenthetic  phrase  in  the 
preface.  Arnauld  had  referred  to  Peter  and  Paul  as 
"two  chiefs  who  were  really  one,"  and  it  was  claimed 
that  this  was  an  attack  on  the  papacy.  After  another 
year  of  wrangling  and  intrigue  the  innocuous  sentence 
was  condemned,  and  the  Jesuits  proclaimed  throughout 
Europe  that  they  had  triumphed. 

The  next  step  was  to  enforce  in  France  the  bull 
of  Urban  viii.  condemning  the  Augtistimis  of  Jansen. 
The  Sorbonne  (the  theological  school  of  the  university) 
received  a  papal  brief  directing  them  to  accept  the  bull, 
and,  in  spite  of  court-pressure,  the  theologians  jusdy 
replied  that  they  were  not  concerned  with  the  opinions 
of  a  Belgian  theologian.  Again  the  pulpits  of  Paris— 
the  artillery  of  the  spiritual  army— opened  fire,  and  the 


228  THE  JESUITS 

pamphleteers  were  busy.  Then  the  syndic  of  the 
Sorbonne,  Cornet,  a  friend  of  the  Jesuits,  submitted 
seven  propositions  to  the  judgment  of  that  body.  He 
named  no  author,  and  expressly  (and  mendaciously) 
stated  that  they  did  not  refer  to  Jansen,  but  it  was  well 
known  that  the  sentences  were  supposed  to  have  been 
extracted  from  the  work  of  Jansen,  and  an  intense 
struggle  followed.  The  cause  was  won,  as  usual,  by 
intrigue.  There  was  some  dispute  at  the  time  how  far 
the  monastic  theologians  could  vote  at  the  Sorbonne,  but 
they  were  brought  up  in  force,  against  the  view  of  the 
lawyers,  and  five  propositions  were  condemned  and 
reported  to  Rome.  It  was  now  openly  stated  that  the 
five  propositions  were  taken  from  Jansen's  book. 

The  Papacy  still  hesitated,  in  view  of  the  disputable 
nature  of  the  Sorbonne  vote,  and  intimated  that  the 
French  prelates  should  be  induced  to  ask  for  a  con- 
demnation. According  to  M.  Cr6tineau-Joly,  the  reply 
was  prompt  and  spontaneous.  "  The  General  Assembly 
of  the  clergy  opens  at  Paris,  and  eighty-eight  bishops 
denounce  the  five  propositions  to  Pope  Innocent";  the 
Jesuits,  he  says,  stood  aside  and  let  the  prelates  speak. 
But  the  French  historian  must  have  been  aware  that  the 
question  was  not  submitted  to  the  General  Assembly  at 
all.  The  signatures  were  obtained  privately,  and  the 
whole  procedure  was  so  insidious  that  we  are  not  sure 
to-day  whether  seventy,  or  eighty,  or  ninety  bishops 
demanded  a  condemnation.  It  is  necessary  to  note 
these  details,  if  we  are  to  understand  the  Catholic 
sentiment  which  later  swept  the  Jesuits  out  of  France. 
About  eighty  bishops  apparently  were  induced  privately 
to  request  the  Pope  to  condemn  the  propositions  ;  other 
prelates  wrote  to  beg  the  Pope  to  abstain.  However, 
the  Vatican  was  now  officially  invited  to  pronounce,  and 
the  war  of  theologians  was  resumed  at  Rome. 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS      229 

In  the  meantime  the  Jesuits  of  Paris  sustained  a 
painful  check  in  their  attack  on  the  Jansenists.  One  of 
their  number,  Father  Brisacier,  published  a  pamphlet, 
Le  Jansenisme  confondzi  (1651),  in  which,  not  only 
were  the  familiar  invectives  showered  upon  the  Solitaries, 
but  the  moral  character  of  the  nuns  of  Port  Royal  was 
attacked.  These  were  the  nuns  whom  a  hostile  arch- 
bishop afterwards  declared  to  be  "as  pure  as  angels  and 
as  proud  as  devils."  The  purity  of  their  lives  was 
notorious,  and  intense  indignation  was  felt.  The 
Archbishop  of  Paris  formally  condemned  the  pamphlet 
as  "  containing  many  lies  and  impostures,"  and  Father 
Brisacier  was  removed — promoted  to  the  rectorship  of 
the  college  at  Rouen — by  his  superiors.  No  Jesuit,  of 
course,  wrote  without  authorisation,  and  the  many 
abominable  pamphlets  they  issued  at  this  time  against 
the  Puritans  implicate  the  whole  Parisian  Province. 

We  need  not  follow  the  course  of  the  trial  at  Rome. 
After  a  two  years'  struggle  Innocent  x.  issued  his 
famous  bull  in  which  the  five  propositions  were  declared 
to  be  heretical,  and  to  be  contained  in  the  work  of 
Jansen.  The  Jesuits  emitted  a  pyrotechnic  discharge 
of  oratory  and  pamphlets — one  broadside  of  the  time 
represented  Bishop  Jansen  as  a  devil  flying  to  the 
Protestants  —  but  they  had  over-reached  themselves. 
No  Jansenist  (not  even  Jansen)  had  ever  taught  the 
five  propositions,  and  there  was  not  a  man  in  France 
who  wished  to  defend  them.  But  the  Jesuits  had 
insisted  on  the  pronouncement  that  the  propositions 
were  contained  in  Jansen,  and  this  gave  rise  to  a 
formidable  controversy  in  which  the  prelates  were  at 
liberty  to  join.  It  may  seem  to  the  modern  reader 
an  appalling  waste  of  energy  and  perversion  of  character 
that  so  powerful  a  body  should  spend  their  resources 
for  twenty  years  in  a  war  on  such  abstruse  propositions, 


230  THE  JESUITS 

but  from  this  point  the  struggle  becomes  frankly 
ridiculous.  For  nearly  eighty  years  we  shall  find 
the  Jesuits  straining  every  device  of  craft  and  learning 
to  ensure  that  every  man  in  France  shall  agree  that 
the  Pope  (who  had  never  read  Jansen's  book)  was 
right  in  declaring  the  five  propositions  to  be  contained 
in  the  AugiLstinus ;  and  the  controversy  they  sustain 
will  draw  on  themselves  the  appalling  scourge  of 
Pascal's  Provincial  Letters  and  on  the  papacy  the 
defiant  declaration  of  the  Gallican  Church.  We  are 
compelled  to  recognise  a  lamentable  corporate  ambition 
and  perversion  of  character  in  their  conduct. 

The    Puritans    coolly    replied    that    they    were    not 

interested    in    the    five    propositions    which    the    Pope 

had  condemned,  but  that,  as  a  matter   of  plain    truth, 

they  must  protest  against  the  ascription  of  these  views 

to    Bishop    Jansen.      So    the    war   proceeded.      It    was 

at  this  time,  in   1654,  that  the  Jesuits  made  a  ludicrous 

attempt   to  discredit  their  opponents    by  revealing   the 

famous  "Plot  of    Bourg  Fontaine":   a  plot  as  rich    in 

imagination  and  crude  in  fictitious  detail    as  the  Titus 

Gates  plot.     They  had  discovered,  they  gravely  reported, 

that    St.    Cyran,    Arnauld,    and    four    other    Jansenists 

had,    twenty-three    years    before,    met    secretly    in    an 

obscure  village   to    concert   a   plot   for    the    destruction 

of    Christianity    in     France.     Arnauld    was    nine    years 

old  at    the    time  given  as    the  year  of   the  conspiracy. 

Arnauld,  from  his  solitude,  issued  a  letter  against  the 

Jesuits,  and  (again  packing  the  jury  with  monk-voters) 

they  got    it  condemned    by  the    Sorbonne.     When  we 

find  the   King  writing  to  press  the  Sorbonne,  we  may 

clearly  recognise  the  hand  of  the  court- Jesuits.     They 

triumphed,  but  their    triumph    now  drew  on    them  the 

heaviest   and    most    enduring    punishment    they   have 

ever  suffered. 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS     231 

In   1648  the    nuns    had   been    compelled    to    return 
from  Paris  to  their  inhospitable  valley,  and  the  Solitaries 
had  retreated  from  the  abbey  to  a  manor-house  on  the 
hill  overlooking  the  valley.     There,  without  any  special 
costume  or  vows,  a  number  of  the  most  brilliant  young 
men  of  Paris  led  a  life  of  great  austerity  and  devotion. 
Some  lived  in  Paris,  and  spent  an  occasional  period  at 
Les    Granges,  and    amongst   these  was    a  young  man, 
with    thin,    pale    face    and    large    brilliant    eyes   under 
his    lofty    forehead,     named    Blaise     Pascal,      He    had 
already     won     European    fame    as     a    mathematician. 
When    Arnauld,    somewhat    jaded,    produced    a    weak 
reply    to    his    opponents,    his    friends    suggested    that 
Pascal    should    be    asked     to    undertake    the    attack. 
Arnauld  agreed,  and  on  23rd  January  1656,   appeared 
the   first    Letter    to   a    Provincial.       It    was   a    subtle 
and  irresistible  satire  of   the  theoloofical  shibboleths  of 
the  Jesuits.      In  order  to  enable  the  conflicting  schools 
of    monastic    theology    to    agree    in    condemning   the 
Jansenists,   certain    terms  (such   as  "proximate   grace" 
and  "sufficient  grace")  had  been  introduced  as  vague 
common  measures  of  orthodoxy,  and  Pascal  expended 
his  immortal  wit  on  the  weakness.      It  is  admitted  by 
all    that    the    earlier   Proviiicial    Letters    are    master- 
pieces of  satire.     The  letter  was  received  with  delight 
in  Paris,  and  a  week  later,  while  the  debate  continued 
at    the    Sorbonne,    a   second    letter    was    issued.     The 
third   appeared    ten    days    later,    after   the    censure    of 
Arnauld. 

It  is  quite  needless  here  to  discuss  the  literary 
qualities  of  Pascal's  letters,  but  in  the  fourth  letter 
Pascal  began  his  direct  and  fearful  indictment  of  the 
Jesuits.  The  next  six  letters  contain  the  exposure 
of  Jesuitical  moral  teaching  which  is  the  most  serious 
point  in  his  work,  and  the  remaining  letters — from  the 


232  THE  JESUITS 

tenth  to  the  eighteenth,  which  are  addressed  to  the 
Jesuits — are  mainly  concerned  with  substantiating  his 
indictment.  Although  one  may  trust  that  the  majority 
of  readers  are  familiar  with  Pascal's  famous  work,  a 
short  analysis  of  the  six  letters  (the  fifth  to  the  tenth) 
must  be  premised. 

The  chief  quarrel  between  the  Solitaries  and  the 
Jesuits  was,  as  I  said,  a  question  of  moral,  not 
speculative,  theology.  They  accused  the  Jesuits  of 
accommodating  the  principles  of  Christian  morality  to 
an  immoral  generation.  St.  Cyran  and  Arnauld  had 
already  quoted  many  passages  of  Jesuit  works  in 
proof  of  this,  and  Pascal  and  his  friends  now  searched 
the  whole  field  of  Jesuit  casuistry  for  further  proofs. 
In  the  fifth  letter,  for  instance,  Pascal  shows  how  the 
Jesuits  attenuate  the  obligation  of  fasting.  A  man  may, 
on  a  fast-day,  drink  any  quantity  of  wine,  hippocras, 
or  honey  and  water.  If  a  man  cannot  sleep  without 
supper,  he  is  not  bound  to  fast ;  in  a  sense  that  is  a 
just  decision,  but  Father  Escobar  goes  on  to  say  that 
he  need  not  meet  his  obligation  by  deferring  to  the 
evening  the  "collation"  which  is  permitted  on  fast-days, 
as  no  man  is  bound  to  alter  the  order  of  his  meals. 
Again,  a  man  who  has  exhausted  himself  by  vice  is 
not  bound  to  fast ;  and  Pascal  might  have  added  that 
the  Jesuits  excused  a  wife  from  fasting  if  her  husband 
thought  it  interfered  with  her  attractiveness  (Tamburini), 
a  husband  if  it  weakened  his  sexual  faculty  (FilHutius), 
and  a  maiden  if  it  lessened  the  charms  on  which  she 
relied  to  secure  a  husband  (Tamburini). 

After  this  satirical  essay  on  fasting  made  easy, 
Pascal  passes,  in  the  sixth  letter,  to  the  obligation  of 
almsgiving  and  cognate  matters.  Wealthy  Christians 
were  bound  by  the  letter  of  the  Gospel  to  give  to  the 
poor  out  of  their  superfluous  goods,  and  Pascal  quoted 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH   THE  JANSENISTS     233 

the  great  Jesuit  theologian  Vasquez  learnedly  proving 
that  "  you  will  scarcely  find  such  a  thing  as  superfluous 
goods   among    seculars,   even    in    the    case   of    kings." 
That  was  a  comfortable  doctrine  for  the  rich,  but  the 
Jesuits    had  a  word  for  the  poor.     Could  a  valet  who 
considered    himself     underpaid     help     himself     to    his 
master's  goods  to  the  extent  of   the  deficiency  ?     Yes, 
said  Father    Bauny.     And    since  Jesuit  confessors  had 
many  curious  cases  submitted  to  them  by  valets  at  that 
time,  their  theologians  worked  out  the  servant's  position 
with   great   nicety.      If    it    were    very    inconvenient    to 
change  his  master,  the  valet  might  even  hold  the  ladder 
by  which   his  master    climbed  to    an    illicit   adventure  ; 
though  in    this    extreme    case,    the    master   must  scold 
much  before  the  valet  is  justified. 

The  seventh  letter  shows  how  the  Jesuits  accommo- 
dated   the   fifth    commandment  to    an  age  of   brawling 
and    duelling.      It    is   quite  lawful    to  fight  a    duel  if  a 
man    would    otherwise    incur  dishonour   (Escobar)  ;    it 
is  lawful    to    pray  to  God    to    kill    a    menacing  enemy 
(Hurtado)  ;  it  is    lawful   to    kill  a  culumniator   and  his 
false  witnesses  (Molina) ;  it  is  lawful  to  pursue  and  kill 
a  man  who  has  dealt  you  a  blow — provided  you  have 
merely  a  technical  regard  for  your  honour,  and  do  not 
feel    vindictive    (Escobar) ;  it    is   lawful  to    kill    a    con- 
tumelious man,    if  that    is    the    only  way  to  arrest  the 
injury  (Lessius)  ;  it  is   lawful,    if   necessary,  to    kill  an 
intending  thief  even  if  he  attempt  to  take  only  a  single 
gold  coin  (Molina) ;  and — a  very  significant  doctrine — 
it  is  lawful  for  a  monk  to  kill  a  man  who  defames  his 
monastery    or   his    order,    if  there    is    no  other  way  to 
arrest     the    defamation    (Amico).       These    were     fine 
doctrines  for  the  age  of  Louis  xiv. 

The    eighth  letter   quotes  distinguished  theologians 
who  permit  a  judge  to  accept  secret  and  illegal  presents, 


234  THE  JESUITS 

provided  they  are  given  out  of  gratitude,  or  merely  to 
encourage  him  in  giving  honest  verdicts  (MoHna) ; 
and  others  who  teach  that,  while  usury  (which  then 
meant  any  interest  in  money)  is  forbidden,  the  lender 
of  money  may  exact  a  certain  additional  sum  in  the 
name  of  gratitude  (Escobar,  etc.)  ;  that  a  bankrupt  may 
keep  back  sufficient  property  to  enable  himself  and  his 
family  to  live  "decently"  (Escobar) ;  that  money  earned 
by  crime  or  vice  has  not  to  be  restored  (Lessius,  etc.) ; 
and  that  "a  prostitute,  virgin,  married  woman,  or  nun" 
is  strictly  entitled  to  the  money  promised  her  for  vice 
(Filliutius).  The  ninth  letter  shows  how  gluttony  is 
condoned,  and  scourges  the  familiar  casuistic  doctrine 
of  mental  reservation.  In  the  tenth  letter  we  learn 
that  a  frail  woman  may  receive  into  her  house  her 
partner  in  sin  if  she  "  cannot  decently  refuse." 

The  apologist  for  the  Jesuits  attempts  to  enfeeble 
this  terrible  indictment  by  saying  that  the  devout 
Chateaubriand  called  Pascal's  work  "an  immortal  lie." 
The  French  historian  does  not  add,  though  he  doubtless 
knew,  that  Chateaubriand  withdrew  this  expression  in 
more  mature  years,  saying :  "I  am  now  forced  to 
acknowledge  that  he  [Pascal]  has  not  exaggerated  in 
the  least/'  Voltaire  also  is  quoted,  expressing  indigna- 
tion that  Pascal  should  accuse  the  Jesuits  of  setting 
out  to  corrupt  morals.  Voltaire,  living  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Bastille  in  early  years,  had  his  moments 
of  insincerity  ;  in  this  case  it  is  enough  to  say  that,  in 
the  fifth  letter,  Pascal  expressly  says  that  he  does  not 
accuse  the  Jesuits  of  setting  out  to  corrupt  morals. 
The  only  serious  criticism  one  finds  among  the  in- 
numerable replies  to  Pascal  is  that  his  quotations  are 
not  always  accurate.  One  must  remember  that  they 
are  not  given  as  verbal  quotations,  and  that  Pascal 
had   to   rely   on  the  aid   of  his   colleagues.     That   he 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS      235 

deliberately  misquoted  any  theologian  can  only  be 
suggested  by  those  who  are  entirely  ignorant  of  his 
character.  It  is,  however,  quite  true  that  qualifying 
phrases  have  at  times  been  improperly  omitted,  a  few 
phrases  have  been  wrongly  translated,  and  the  con- 
densing of  long  passages  into  short  sentences  has  in  a 
few  instances  the  effect  of  an  injustice.  These  cases 
are  relatively  few  and  unimportant.  The  indictment  of 
Jesuit  casuistry,  as  I  have  summarised  it,  is  perfectly 
sound,  and  later  research  has  merely  extended  the  long 
list  of  unedifying  passages.^ 

Ste.  Beuve  observed  that,  owing  to  Pascal's  in- 
dictment, the  Jesuits  "lost  the  helm  of  the  world." 
They  have  assuredly  never  entirely  recovered  from  the 
"  terrible  blow  "  (as  their  historian  calls  it)  which  Blaise 
Pascal  dealt  them.  It  is  not  historically  true  that  they 
were  "crushed"  and  silent  under  the  reiterated  lashes. 
In  the  course  of  his  letters  Pascal  refers  to  their  numerous 
replies,  their  fierce  invectives,  their  threats  of  physical 
persecution.  Unfortunately,  one  of  their  fathers  made 
matters  worse  by  penning  a  bold  defence  of  the  casuists. 
His  book  was  condemned  by  the  Sorbonne  and  the 
Roman  Inquisition,  and  had  to  be  disavowed.  Large 
numbers  of  the  clergy  and  monks  joined  with  the 
Jansenists  in  denouncing  their  doctrines,  and  in  the  end 
— if  we  may  anticipate  a  little,  in  order   to   finish  this 

^  I  have  consulted  Molinier's  admirable  edition  of  the  Letters  (1891). 
The  editor  gives  the  original  Latin  passages  from  the  Jesuit  theologians, 
and  it  is  after  comparison  of  these  with  Pascal's  quotations  or  paraphrases 
that  I  reach  the  conclusion  given  in  the  text.  It  is  necessary  to  add  that 
some  of  these  doctrines  were  not  confined  to  the  Jesuits.  The  point  is 
that  the  Jesuits,  as  a  body,  were  characteristically  lax.  Probabilism,  for 
instance  (the  pernicious  doctrine  that  a  man  may  commit  an  action  which 
is  probably  lawful,  though  more  probably  sinful)  was  not  invented  by  the 
Jesuits,  but  they  made  it  a  basic  element  of  their  casuistry.  They  taught 
that  a  man  was  free  to  follow  one  single  lax  theologian,  if  he  were  a  "  grave 
authority,"  against  the  adverse  opinion  of  all  the  others. 


236  THE  JESUITS 

episode — they  were  officially  condemned  by  the  French 
Church.  For  a  time  Louis  xiv,  prevented  their  opponents 
from  submitting  the  matter  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Clergy,  but,  when  Mme  de  Montespan  succeeded 
Mile  de  la  Valliere  in  his  affections,  Bossuet  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris  used  her  influence  to  secure  the 
king's  consent,  and  in  1700  their  doctrines  (and  those  of 
other  lax  theologians)  were  severely  condemned.  The 
only  mitigation  which  the  Jesuits  could  secure  was  that 
their  theologians  were  not  named. 

Meantime,  the  war  of  the  five  propositions  dragged 
its  interminable  length.  The  Port  Royal  nuns,  the 
Solitaries,  and  many  of  the  clergy  and  laity  refused  to 
sign  what  they  regarded  as  a  plain  untruth — the  state- 
ment that  the  five  propositions  were  found  in  Jansen's 
work — and  the  Jesuits  relentlessly  persecuted  them. 
Under  court-pressure  the  Assembly  of  the  Clergy  decreed 
that  all  teachers  and  religious  were  to  submit  to  the 
Pope's  bull,  and  a  kind  of  inquisition  was  established  for 
the  first  time  in  France.  A  formulary  was  devised,  and 
a  royal  decree  enacted  that  it  must  be  signed.  The 
"grand  Turc  tres  Chretien"  was  at  that  time  easily  led 
by  his  confessor  and  other  Jesuits  in  religious  matters, 
and  his  light-hearted  court,  under  the  presidency  of 
Mile  de  la  Valliere,  was  not  at  all  unwilling  to  see  the 
dour  Jansenists  beaten  by  their  indulgent  confessors. 
The  nuns  of  Port  Royal  made  an  heroic  stand  against 
the  official  untruth.  Angelique  Arnauld  was  now  dead, 
but  her  sister  Agnes  induced  the  nuns  to  resist  alike  the 
honeyed  persuasion  of  Bossuet  and  the  angry  menaces 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris.  In  1664  the  archbishop 
returned  with  the  more  formidable  argument  of  a  band 
of  two  hundred  archers,  and  the  nuns  were  scattered 
over  France.  The  Solitaries  also  were  scattered,  though 
a  few  of  the  more  distinguished  of  them  found  shelter  in 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS      237 

the  hotel  of  the  Duchess  de  Longueville.  So  importunate 
were  the  Jesuits  that  the  Pope  had  to  remind  them  that 
his  duty  was  to  keep  the  Puritans  in  the  Church,  not 
drive  them  out  of  it. 

Four  bishops  still  favoured  the  Puritans,  and  for 
several  years  the  futile  wrangle  went  on  between  the 
French  court,  the  Vatican,  and  the  rebels.  One  of  the 
four  was  the  Archbishop  of  Sens,  a  prelate  of  the  finer 
type  and  a  stern  critic  of  the  Jesuits.  In  1653  the 
Jesuits  went  to  such  extremes  in  their  attack  on  him 
that  he  placed  all  the  Jesuits  in  his  archdiocese  under  an 
interdict  for  contumacy,  and  the  sentence  was  so  just 
that  they  did  not  succeed  in  getting  it  removed  until  the 
death  of  the  prelate  in  1675.  The  Bishop  of  Pamiers 
imposed  the  same  heavy  punishment  on  the  Jesuits  of 
his  diocese.  Both  king  and  clergy  were  now  wearying 
of  the  endless  war,  and  the  accession  of  a  new  Pope, 
Clement  ix.,  in  1667  seemed  to  the  moderate  clergy  an 
occasion  for  compromise.  The  Archbishop  of  Sens,  the 
Princess  de  Conti,  the  Duchess  de  Longueville,  and 
other  distinguished  intermediaries  persuaded  the  papacy 
to  exclude  the  Jesuits  from  the  negotiations,  and 
Arnauld  promised  to  submit  if  that  were  done.  The 
correspondence  was,  therefore,  conducted  with  great 
secrecy,  and  at  the  beginning  of  1669  Louis  xiv.  struck 
and  issued  a  gold  medal  in  commemoration  of  "peace" 
and  "restored  concord."  The  Jesuits  were  so  angry  at 
the  wording,  since  it  did  not  express  the  extinction  of  a 
heresy,  that,  when  the  medal  became  scarce,  they  denied 
that  it  had  been  issued  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Kinor. 

The  nuns  were  now  permitted  gradually  to  return  to 
their  valley,  and  the  Solitaries  renewed  the  attack  upon 
the  morality  of  the  Jesuits.  On  this  side  the  Jesuits 
could  securely  rely  upon  the  sympathy  of  Louis  xiv., 
and  the  second  brilliant  criticism  which  the  Jansenists 


238  THE  JESUITS 

published,    the  Practical  Morality  of  the  Jesuits,   was 
condemned   by  Parlement,  at    the    intervention    of   the 
royal  procurator,  to  be  publicly  burned.     Jesuit  succeeded 
Jesuit  in  the  care  of  the  King's  conscience,  in  spite  of  his 
notorious  and  continuous  immorality  during  nearly  twenty 
years.     Their  French  apologist  ventures  to  tell  us  that 
they   "declared  war  on  the   King's  heart,"  and  quotes 
Bayle  as  saying,  in  regard  to  the  liaison  with  Mile  de 
la  Valliere,  that  "  Father  Annat  teased  the  prince  daily 
about  it  and  gave  him  no  rest."     It  is  one  of  the  most 
flagrant   pieces    of   "Jesuitry"    in    M.    Cr^tineau-Joly's 
work.     Bayle  (in   a  note  to  the  article  Annat)  merely 
quotes    these    words    from    a    pamphleteer   whom    he 
describes  as  utterly  unworthy  of  credence  ;  and  I   may 
add  that  the  purpose  of  the  pamphleteer  is  merely  to 
prove  that  the  later  confessor,  Pere  la  Chaise,  was  worse 
than  Pere  Annat.     The  truth  is  that  Annat  remained  in 
his  charge  during  the  whole  of  the  eight    years    when 
Louis   clung   to    Mile    de    la    Valliere,    and,    when    the 
brilliant    and    unscrupulous    Marquise    de    Montespan 
succeeded  in  securing  the  position  of  royal  mistress  in 
1670,  and  Pere  Annat  retired  on  the  ground  of  age,  his 
colleague  Pere  Ferrier  took  his  place.     For  four  years  he 
remained  in  charge  of  the  King's  remarkable  conscience, 
and  it  is  not  irrelevant  to  observe  that  he  was  rewarded 
with  a  power  that  no  royal  confessor  had  hitherto  had  in 
France.     He  and  his  colleagues  now  had  the  sole  right 
to  nominate  bishops,  and  the  character  of  the  French 
episcopacy  in    the  later  years  of  Louis  xiv.    is    largely 
attributable    to    them.     Ferrier    died    in   1674,  and   the 
famous  Pere  la  Chaise,  a  man  of  moderate  ability  but 
courtly   manners,    was   appointed   royal   confessor.      He 
remained  at  his  post  during  the  remaining  five  years  of 
the  liaison  with  Mme  de  Montespan,  and  it  was  Mme 
de  Maintenon  (and  advance  in  years),   rather  than  his 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS      239 

confessor,  who   led  the    royal  sinner   into  the  paths  of 
virtue. 

The  eventual  refusal  of  the  sacraments  does  not 
atone  for  this  prolonged  adhesion  to  Louis  xiv.,  even 
if  we  ienore  other  circumstances  which  detract  from  the 
merit  of  this  tardy  act  of  sternness.  The  Jesuits  com- 
promised with  the  vice,  in  order  that  they  might  share 
the  power,  of  the  greatest  monarch  of  the  age.  In  the 
last  chapter  we  saw  how  they  made  use,  or  trusted  to 
make  use,  of  their  influence  at  the  French  court  in  the 
conquest  of  England  ;  for  the  moment  we  find  them 
attaining  a  position  of  great  power  in  France  by  their 
indulgent  behaviour ;  and  in  later  chapters  we  shall 
find  them  deriving  advantage  from  their  privileged 
position  for  the  promotion  of  their  influence  in  Spain 
and  Italy.  They  looked  to  Louis  xiv.,  as  they  had 
once  looked  to  Philip  iii.  of  Spain,  as  the  rising  sun  of 
the  monarchical  world,  and  they  suppressed  their 
scruples  in  their  determination  to  use  his  power  for  the 
furtherance  of  the  aims  of  their  Society.  This  is 
singularly  illustrated,  in  a  very  different  way,  by  their 
conduct  in  the  next  phase  of  French  ecclesiastical 
affairs. 

There  was  in  most  parts  of  France  an  old  custom 
which  gave  the  King  the  right  to  promote  to  benefices 
as  long  as  the  episcopal  see  was  vacant.  This  profitable 
"  Regale,"  as  it  was  called,  had  never  been  recognised 
in  the  southern  provinces,  but  in  1673  Louis  xiv. 
decreed  that  in  future  all  dioceses  (except  a  few  with 
special  privileges)  would  have  to  recognise  the  royal 
rieht.  The  Kine's  own  words  indicate  that  the  Jesuits 
had  inspired  this  improper  invasion  of  the  spiritual 
world,  and  the  fact  was  not  disguised  that  it  was  chiefly 
aimed  against  Bishop  Pavilion  of  Aleth  and  Bishop 
Caulet  of  Pamiers,  who  had  withstood  the  court  and  the 


240  THE  JESUITS 

Jesuits  in  regard  to  the  papal  bull  against  the  Jansenists. 
The  bishops  appealed  to  Rome,  and  in  1676  a  man 
ascended  the  throne  of  Peter  who  was  in  no  mood  to 
bow  to  earthly  monarchs  or  permit  Jesuit  intrigue. 
Innocent  xi.  sternly  insisted  on  the  rights  of  the  Church 
and  condemned  the  action  of  Louis.  The  Parlement 
and  the  French  hierarchy  generally  sided  with  the 
King,  and  the  papal  briefs  remained  unpublished. 
The  Jesuits  of  the  southern  dioceses  affected  to  regard 
the  briefs  as  spurious,  and  they  maintained  the  cam- 
paign of  intrigue  and  calumny  which  they  had  con- 
ducted for  some  time  against  the  Bishop  of  Pamiers. 
Pavilion  had  died  in  the  course  of  the  struggle.  Pope 
Innocent  then  devised  a  plan  by  which  he  expected  to 
defeat  the  insincere  manoeuvres  of  the  Jesuits.  lie 
handed  his  briefs  to  the  General  of  the  Society  and 
bade  him  communicate  them  to  the  French  Jesuits, 
through  their  Provincials.  To  their  great  embarrass- 
ment the  Jesuits  of  Paris  and  Toulouse  now  found 
themselves  in  the  dilemma  of  having  to  disobey  the 
commands  either  of  the  Pope  or  the  King,  but  they 
extricated  themselves  with  their  usual  adroitness. 

The  Parlements  of  Paris  and  Toulouse  were  secretly 
informed  that  the  Jesuit  fathers  had  received  copies  of 
the  papal  briefs  and  were  instructed  to  publish  them. 
The  secrets  of  the  Society  were  not  so  easily  penetrated 
as  to  avert  the  suspicion  that  the  Jesuits  had  themselves 
given  this  information,  and  the  proceedings  of  the 
Parlements  show  that  they  did  so.  Even  their  resolute 
apologist  here  confesses  that  "perhaps"  the  Jesuits  had 
this  information  conveyed  to  the  lawyers  in  defiance  of 
the  Pope's  stern  command.  The  scene  that  followed  is 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  the  history  of  the  Society. 
The  Parlement  of  Paris,  which  we  have  found  for  more 
than  a  century  in  bitter  opposition  to  the  Society,  now 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS     241 

(1681)  publicly  lauded  the  patriotism  of  the  Jesuits  in 
frustrating  this  attempt  "to  surprise  their  wisdom  and 
corrupt  their  fidelity."  The  men  of  the  fourth  vow,  the 
men  who  professed  to  be  the  incorruptible  champions 
of  the  Papacy,  now  cast  their  Ultramontanism  to  the 
winds,  and  gave  material  assistance  to  the  Gallicans  at 
a  time  when  a  very  grave  conflict  with  the  Vatican  was 
in  progress.  It  was,  once  more,  the  price  of  the  favour 
of  Louis  XIV.  Innocent  replied  by  excommunicating 
Louis,  and  he  entrusted  the  brief  to  the  charge  of  a 
French  Jesuit  who  was  then  in  Rome,  It  was,  of 
course,  never  published.  The  Jesuit  authorities  at 
Paris  kept  it  in  their  hands  until  the  wrath  of  the  Pope 
had  cooled  and  he  recognised  the  impolicy  of  enforc- 
ing it. 

From  every  point  of  view  the  conduct  of  the  Jesuits 
in  this  crisis  is  unattractive.  They  discovered  that  in 
such  conflicts  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Society  to  be  neutral, 
and  they  retained  the  favour  of  the  contestants  by 
making  such  compromises  as  the  successive  phases  of 
the  struggle  imposed  on  them.  The  clergy  of  the 
French  Church  met  in  Assembly  in  1681,  and,  under 
the  leadership  of  Bossuet,  formulated  the  famous  four 
articles  which  define  the  rights  of  the  Galilean  Church 
and  limit  the  pretensions  of  the  Vatican.  All  professors 
and  religious  in  France  were  directed  to  sign  these 
articles  ;  but  the  Jesuits,  through  their  junta  at  court, 
obtained  exemption,  and  were  able  to  report  to  the 
Vatican  that  they  alone  had  not  accepted  this  defiant 
"Declaration  of  the  Galilean  Clergy":  half  a  century 
later,  however,  when  France  is  more  dangerous  to  them 
than  the  Papacy,  we  shall  find  them  setting  aside  their 
scruples  and  signing  the  articles.  Even  at  the  time,  the 
Papacy  was  not  appeased  by  their  sinuous  conduct. 
Innocent  xi.  threatened  to  destroy  the  Society,  and 
16 


242  THE  JESUITS 

remained    bitterly   opposed    to    it    until    his    death    in 
1689. 

By  this  time  Louis  xiv.  had  entered  on  his  later 
phase  of  decaying  power  and  sincere  interest  in  re- 
ligious matters.  Mme  de  Maintenon  had  consolidated 
her  influence  over  him  by  a  secret  marriage  in  1684, 
and  given  a  religious  direction  to  his  thoughts.  One  ter- 
rible consequence  of  this  tardy  and  ill-balanced  zeal  was, 
as  history  tells,  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
{1685),  and  a  horrible  oppression  of  the  Protestants. 
It  would  be  a  mistake  to  cast  the  whole  blame  of  this 
lamentable  cruelty  and  its  evil  effects  for  the  country 
upon  the  Jesuits.  The  higher  French  clergy  generally 
still  entertained  the  persecuting  spirit,  and  had  for 
years  pressed  for  violent  measures  against  the  sectarians, 
who  refused  to  yield  to  their  arguments.  Pere  la 
Chaise  was  only  one  of  many  narrow-minded  priests 
who  impelled  Louis  xiv.  to  crown  a  series  of  unjust 
measures  against  the  Protestants  with  this  cruel  and 
impolitic  act.  It  was,  however,  the  consummation  of 
the  violent  policy  which  the  Jesuits  had  urged  from 
the  beginning,  and  one  may  justly  doubt  whether 
Louis  XIV.  would,  even  in  his  last  phase,  have  adopted 
such  a  measure  if  the  court- Jesuits  had  not  pressed 
for  it. 

In  the  sobered  court  the  Jesuits  continued  for  some 
time  to  enjoy  a  great  influence,  though  it  was  increas- 
ingly checked  by  Mme  de  Maintenon  and  the  prelates 
she  favoured.  In  1688,  Louis  determined  to  make  the 
French  Jesuits  independent  of  the  Roman  authorities ; 
but  they  contrived  to  dissuade  him.  They  continued 
to  fight  the  Regalists  and  the  Jansenists  with  the 
poisoned  weapons  of  calumny,  abuse,  and  intrigue.  The 
most  unedifying  scenes  were  witnessed  in  the  southern 
dioceses,    and    Jansenist    leaders,    like    Arnauld,    were 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS     243 

pursued  even  beyond  the  frontiers.  One  illustration 
of  this  prolonged  and  misguided  campaign  must  suffice. 
In  the  year  1690  the  theologians  of  Douai  received  a 
number  of  letters  bearing  the  signature  of  Arnauld ; 
and,  in  what  they  understood  to  be  a  private  corre- 
spondence with  the  Jansenist  leader,  they  committed 
themselves  to  phrases  which  no  other  occasion  would 
have  extracted  from  them.  This  correspondence  was 
then  published  by  the  Jesuits,  and  the  professors  of 
the  Douai  University  were  expelled  and  replaced  by 
members  of  the  Society.  The  fraud,  however,  proved 
one  more  detail  in  the  long  account  which  France 
would  presently  settle  with  the  Jesuits.  Arnauld,  who 
was  living  in  the  Netherlands,  at  once  denounced  the 
letters  as  forgeries,  and  held  up  the  Jesuits  to  public 
contempt  as  the  direct  or  indirect  authors. 

The  nuns  of  Port  Royal  were  the  next  victims  of 
their  relentless  campaign.  A  more  friendly  Pope, 
Clement  xi.,  succeeded  Innocent,  and  in  1705  he  was 
induced  to  issue  a  fresh  bull  ( Vinemn  Domini)  for  the 
suppression  of  Jansenism.  It  was  pressed  for  the 
acceptance  of  the  nuns  by  the  Archbishop  of  Paris ; 
but  it  seemed  to  them  still  to  consecrate  the  familar 
untruth,  and  they  declared  that  they  would  subscribe 
to  it  only  with  a  qualifying  clause.  We  have  no 
documentary  proof  that  the  Jesuits  inspired  the  events 
which  followed  this  reserve,  but  the  blame  was  openly 
cast  upon  them  at  the  time,  and  the  circumstances 
suggest  it.  The  King — still  under  the  guidance  of 
Pere  la  Chaise — wrote  to  the  Vatican  for  permission 
to  destroy  the  community,  and  in  the  early  spring 
of  1708  the  nuns  were  definitely  scattered.  Pere  la 
Chaise  died  at  the  beginning  of  the  following  year, 
and  Pere  Letellier,  a  grim  and  resolute  supporter  of 
the  ambitions  of  the    Society,  succeeded  to  the  office. 


244  THE  JESUITS 

Under  his  influence  the  last  insurgent  movements  of 
the  brave  nuns  were  rigorously  suppressed,  and  in 
January  17  lo  their  ancient  and  beloved  abbey,  the 
strictest  centre  of  conventual  virtue  in  France,  was 
rased  to  the  ground. 

Letellier,  a  sombre,  indefatigable  man,  whose  flash- 
ing eyes  scorned  the  comfort  of  the  court — he  was  a 
peasant's  son — and  sought  nothing  in  this  world  but  the 
ascendancy  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  now  found  the 
influence  of  the  Jesuits  threatened  by  that  of  Louis's 
wife  and  her  favourite  prelate  Noailles,  Archbishop  of 
Paris.  In  171 1  a  letter  was  intercepted  which  revealed 
the  intrigues  of  Letellier  and  the  Jesuits,  and  Noailles 
angrily  suspended  all  the  members  of  the  Society  in  his 
diocese.  The  chief  Jansenist  writer  was  now  Quesnel, 
who  had  just  published  his  Moral  Reflections.  The 
Jesuits  detected  much  heresy  in  the  innocent  work,  and 
at  once  used  their  influence  to  secure  a  condemnation. 
The  Archbishop  had,  however,  expressed  admiration  of 
it,  and  the  task  of  the  Jesuits  was  more  than  usually 
difficult.  At  length,  in  July  171 1,  a  letter  was  inter- 
cepted from  which  it  was  clear  that  Letellier  was  in- 
triguing against  the  Archbishop,  and  there  was  much 
indignation  among  the  new  party  at  court.  Noailles  not 
only  suspended  the  fathers,  but  condemned  about  a  score 
of  their  writers  and  preachers  for  lax  principles.  The 
intrigue  continued,  however,  and  in  the  autumn  of  17 13, 
Clement  xi.  condemned  Quesnel's  book  in  the  bull 
Unigenitus.  Saint  Simon,  who  was  in  the  French 
court  at  the  time  and  on  good  terms  with  the  Jesuits, 
tells  us  that  the  bull  was  due  to  Letellier  and  two  other 
Jesuits  "as  fine  and  false  as  he,"  and  that  in  the  bull 
"everything  was  brilliant  except  truth."  Saint  Simon 
was  no  theologian.  We  may  accept  his  word  that  the 
securing  of  the  bull  was  "  a  dark  business  "  ;  and  we  know 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS      245 

that,  in  its  later  stages,  it  was  pressed  at  Rome  with 
irregular  and  improper  haste.  It  is,  however,  true  that 
many  of  Quesnel's  phrases  were  questionable,  though 
they  did  little  more  than  repeat  and  enforce  the  words 
of  the  gospel :  "  Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing  "  [John 
vi.  66).  But  the  words  of  Scripture  were  condemned 
as  well  as  the  words  of  Ouesnel,  and  the  Jesuits  were 
able  to  congratulate  each  other  that  "  Jouvency  was 
avenged."^ 

The  bull  Unigenitus  was,  says  a  French  bishop  of  the 
time,  as  badly  received  at  Paris  as  it  would  have  been  at 
Geneva,  and  the  Jesuits  prepared  for  the  last  phase  of 
their  long  struggle  with  the  Puritans.     Saint  Simon  has 
left   us   a   singular   and   unpleasant    picture  of   Father 
Letellier  discussing  with  him  their  devices  for  enforcingr 
acceptance  of  the  bull.     The  passion  displayed  by  the 
royal  confessor  amazed  the  duke,  and  he  was  not  less 
disgusted  at  the  ruses  by   which   Letellier  proposed  to 
crush  his  opponents.     The  Archbishop  now  condemned 
Ouesnel,   but  rejected    the    bull,    and   fourteen    bishops 
followed  his  example.     Once  more  there  was  a  violent 
controversy,  and  a  letter  of  Letellier's   was  intercepted 
from  which  Noailles  learned  that  the  royal  confessor  was 
pressing  Louis  to  send  him  to  Rome,  to  be  degraded  by 
the    Papacy.      The   ecclesiastical    world    seethed   with 
passion,     while    France    slowly    fell    from     the    proud 
position  to  which  its  great  generals  had  raised  it. 

In  the  midst  of  this  conflict,  Louis  xiv.  died  (17 15); 
and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  the  reign  of  the  Jesuits 
was  ended.  The  grim  Letellier  was  exiled  from  Paris, 
and    Noailles    replaced    the    Jesuits    in    the   control    of 

^  I  have  in  earlier  chapters  quoted  Father  Jouvency's  volume  of  the 
Historia  Societatis.  This  volume,  recalling  and  praising  the  action  of  the 
French  Jesuits  in  the  time  of  Henry  in.  and  Henry  iv.,  was  published  in  1713, 
and  gave  such  offence  that  the  Parlement  suppressed  it. 


246  THE  JESUITS 

ecclesiastical  affairs.  Their  enemies  gathered  about  the 
Regent  and  pressed  him  to  destroy  the  power  of  the 
Society.  Philip  of  Orleans  was,  however,  not  the  kind 
of  man  to  sacrifice  liberal  casuists  to  the  Puritans,  and 
graceful  preachers  to  stern  parlementarians.  A  man  of 
brilliant  parts  and  frivolous  tendencies — he  had  been 
educated  in  vice  by  the  Abb^  Dubois — he  saw  no  more 
than  a  temporary  political  expedient  in  checking  the 
Jesuits  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  supporters.  He  soon 
relapsed  into  ways  of  indolence  and  vice  ;  and  the  Jesuits, 
gaining  the  ear  of  his  unscrupulous  favourites,  crept 
back  to  power.  Dubois  desired  a  high  ecclesiastical 
dignity,  and  the  course  of  events  very  strongly  confirms 
the  suspicion  that  the  Jesuits  put  at  his  disposal  their 
influence  in  Rome.  He  induced  Philip  to  compel 
Parlement  to  register  the  bull  Unigenit2is ;  and  he 
shortly  afterwards  became,  in  spite  of  his  notorious 
character,  Archbishop  of  Cambrai  and  Cardinal  of  the 
Church.  Other  unworthy  clerics  were  similarly  pro- 
moted, and  the  power  of  Cardinal  Noailles  was  checked. 
Dubois,  in  1722,  secured  the  ofifice  of  confessor  to  the 
young  King  for  a  Jesuit.  Noailles,  who  had  opposed 
the  appointment,  refused  canonical  powers  to  the  con- 
fessor, and  a  fresh  intrigue  ran  on  until  Noailles  died 
and  a  pro- Jesuit  Archbishop  was  elected. 

The  Jesuits  now  returned  to  power,  though  not 
to  their  full  power,  at  the  court,  and  the  remnant 
of  the  Jansenists  was  pitilessly  persecuted.  For  nearly 
twenty  years  the  opponents  of  the  Jesuits  attempted 
to  evade  the  enforcement  of  the  papal  decisions,  and 
it  is  said  that  more  than  a  hundred  priests  were  banished 
and  a  large  number  imprisoned.  One  of  the  bishops 
was  deposed  and  degraded  for  resistance,  and  a  fierce 
struggle  shook  the  peaceful  atmosphere  of  the  in- 
numerable monasteries.     Fifty  monks  of  one'  province 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS     247 

of  the  Cistercian  order  were,  in  1723,  excommunicated 
and  imprisoned  by  the  authorities.  The  papal  con- 
demnation included  propositions  which  were  obviously- 
sound  and  others  which  were  no  more  than  quotations 
of  Scripture,  so  hastily  had  the  vindictive  sentence 
been  promulgated.  The  Jesuits  triumphed,  however, 
and  the  reign  of  Louis  xv.  saw  them  fully  reinstated 
at  Versailles. 

France    was    no    longer   the    world-power    she    had 
been  in  the  golden  age  of  Louis  xiv.,  and  her  selfish 
and  dissipated  monarch  was  blindly  leading  her  toward 
revolution.     The  Jesuits,  as  before,  clung  to  the  prestige 
of  the  position  of  royal  confessor,  in  spite  of  the  flagrant 
immorality  of   the    King,  but   the  forces   which    would 
presently  dislodge  them  were  insensibly  gathering  power. 
The    Puritans  were   silenced,    rather   than    annihilated, 
and    the    Parlement,    imputing    to    the    Society    much 
of  the   blame  of  its   exile    in    1753,   revived    its   bitter 
hostility.     The    first   stroke    fell  on  them  in  that  year. 
Father   P^russeau,   the    King's   confessor,   died,    and   a 
successful  intrigue  put   in   his  place  a  priest  who  was 
not  a  Jesuit.      Both  Perusseau  and  his  successor  refused 
absolution  to  a  King  whose  libertinism  was  so  cynically 
exhibited.      In    view    of  the   persistent  attack   on  their 
laxity   during   a    hundred    years,    it    would    have    been 
difficult  for  a  Jesuit  to  do  less.     When,   however,  the 
Jesuits    lost   the    principal    position,    there    seemed    for 
a   moment    some    chance    of  their    returnino-  to   favour 
in  an  indirect  way.     Mme  de  Pompadour  also  desired 
absolution,  in   order  to  find  a  convenient  place  in  the 
Queen's  suite ;  and,  making  a  profession  of  penitence, 
she   put    herself  under    the    spiritual    guidance    of   the 
Jesuit  Father  Sacy.     For  a  time  he  affected  to  believe 
in  her  sincerity ;  but  the  laughter  of  Paris  disconcerted 
him,   and    the   stern    refusal    of  the    Pope    to    interfere 


248  THE  JESUITS 

forced  him   to  retire.     From  that  time  Mme  de  Pom- 
padour and  her  courtiers  were  opposed  to  the  Jesuits. 

A  few  years  later,  in  1757,  the  attempt  of  Damiens 
to  assassinate  Louis  led  to  another  outcry  against  the 
Society.  It  is  the  general  and  probable  verdict  that 
the  Jesuits  had  no  share  in  the  outrage,  though  the 
fact  that  Damiens  had  a  Jesuit  confessor,  and  had 
previously  been  in  the  service  of  the  Jesuits,  still  seems 
to  many  writers  to  justify  a  grave  suspicion.  The 
evidence  is  inconclusive,  but  the  outrage  led  to  a  fresh 
discussion  of  the  regicidal  doctrines  of  the  Society, 
and  the  secrecy  and  sinuousness  of  its  procedure.  By 
that  time,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Marquis  de  Pombal  was 
meditating  the  destruction  of  the  Jesuits  in  Portugal, 
and  was  in  correspondence  with  their  enemies  in  France. 
These  enemies  were  now  reinforced  by  the  brilliant 
and  powerful  body  of  deistic  and  atheistic  writers  who 
were  known  as  "the  philosophers,"  and  a  formidable 
mine  was  being  prepared  under  the  feet  of  the  arrogant 
and  unsuspecting  Jesuits. 

The  spark  that  fired  this  mine  was  a  particularly 
disreputable  action  on  the  part  of  the  Society.  In 
1753  the  Superior-General  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  Antilles, 
Father  Lavalette,  was  summoned  to  Paris  to  answer 
the  charge  of  having  engaged  in  commerce  on  a  large 
scale.  Lavalette  was  one  of  those  men  of  commercial 
instinct  whom  the  Society  did  not  scruple  to  use  in 
augmenting  its  wealth  as  long  as  they  were  successful. 
Although  he  had,  in  the  name  of  the  Society,  vast 
estates  in  the  West  Indies  and  thousands  of  negro 
slaves  (bought  by  himself,  in  disguise,  in  the  public 
slave-market),  and  it  was  known  that  he  had  agents 
in  Paris  for  the  sale  of  his  sugar  and  coffee,  he  came 
to  Paris  with  a  number  of  sworn  testimonies  from  local 
French  officers  to  the   effect  that   the  Jesuits   had  not 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS      249 

engaged  in  "foreign  commerce,"  and  was  acquitted. 
He  returned  to  conduct  his  flourishing  business  on  a 
larger  scale  than  ever.  He  had  spacious  warehouses, 
and  made  a  profit  of  about  280,000  francs  a  year;  and 
he  now — though  acquitted  on  the  understanding  that 
he  was  not  to  engage  in  commerce — borrowed  large 
sums  of  money,  and  increased  the  profit  by  a  shrewd, 
and  somewhat  sharp,  deal  on  the  money-market.  He 
overreached  himself  in  these  practices,  and,  as  other 
disasters  simultaneously  overtook  his  business,  some 
of  his  French  creditors  pressed  for  their  money. 

The  French  Jesuits  were  divided  in  opinion  on  the 
issue.     The    shrewder    fathers    at   Marseilles  were  dis- 
posed to  borrow  money  and  meet   the  obligations,  but 
the    Parisian  authorities   believed    that    they   were    still 
strong  enough  to  win  a  conflict,  and  they  insisted  that 
Lavalette  must  plead  bankruptcy.      It  was  the  last  and 
most  fatal  of  the  long  series  of  blunders  they  had  per- 
petrated ;    to  say  nothing  of  the  moral  aspect  of  their 
procedure.     The  law  was  set  in  motion  ;  in  March  1761 
the  lawyers  of  the  Paris  Parlement  were  set  the  task  of 
judging    their   traditional    enemy,    and    the    long    trial, 
amidst  intense   excitement,   ended  in  the  Jesuits,  as  a 
collective  body,  being  condemned  to  pay  the  whole  of 
Lavalette's  debts — about  five  million  francs.      In  order 
to  determine  the  responsibility,  the  lawyers  had  compelled 
the  Jesuits    to    produce    their    Constitutions    and   other 
documents  which   they  were    eager   to    keep   from    the 
laity,   and  this   exposure    led   to   a   broader   and    more 
determined   attack   on    the    Society.       Their   action    in 
refusing  to   meet   the  obligations  of   the  West    Indian 
business,  by  which  they  had  profited  so  much,  was,  and 
always  will  be,  regarded  as  morally  dishonourable.      It 
is  pleaded  on  their  behalf  that  the  Jesuits  are  a  "simple- 
minded  "  and  spiritual  body  of  men,  with  no  inclination 


250  THE  JESUITS 

or  aptitude  for  commerce,  and  that  Lavalette  had  con- 
cealed his  operations — as  they  compelled  him  to  state — 
from  his  superiors.  Such  statements  merely  increase 
the  cynicism  of  their  procedure.  We  have  found  them 
repeatedly  engaging  in  commerce,  and  we  know  that 
the  Jesuit  system  made  it  absolutely  impossible  for  an 
inferior,  even  if  he  wished  to  do  so,  to  conceal  large 
commercial  operations  from  his  superiors.  The  Jesuit 
documents  made  this  plain  to  the  whole  of  Paris,  and 
their  adversaries  advanced  to  the  last  attack. 

The  Parlement  declared  that  the  Jesuit  Constitutions 
were  unfit  for  a  body  of  French  priests,  and  demanded 
that  they  should  be  altered ;  it  forbade  the  Society  to 
form  congregations  among  the  laity,  to  teach  the  young, 
or  to  receive  novices.  The  Jesuits  at  court  induced  the 
King  to  summon  a  meeting  of  the  higher  clergy  and  elicit 
a  counter-declaration  in  favour  of  the  Society  ;  but  a 
fearful  storm  was  now  raofino-  in  their  ears.  In  their 
extreme  apprehension  they  disavowed  the  most  char- 
acteristic Jesuit  principles.  They  proclaimed  that  they 
accepted  the  four  articles  of  the  Galilean  Declaration  of 
1682,  and  that  they  would  be  loyal  to  the  Galilean 
Church  even  if  their  General  commanded  them  to  do 
something  contrary  to  its  principles.  They  were  fighting 
for  life  ;  but  men  in  France  knew  from  their  previous 
history  in  the  country  that  such  declarations  as  this  were 
merely  diplomatic,  and  were  set  aside  the  moment  they 
returned  to  power. 

The  struggle  continued  through  the  winter,  and  in 
the  spring  (1762)  the  King  annulled  the  measures  taken 
against  them,  but  bade  them  modify  their  Constitutions. 
They  were  in  future  to  have  a  Vicar-General  in  France, 
independent  of  the  Roman  General,  and  to  be  subject  to 
the  bishops,  Louis  had  secretly  consulted  the  Roman 
authorities,  and  urged  them  that  this  compromise  was 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  JANSENISTS     251 

absolutely  necessary  to  save  the  French  Province ;  and, 
although  General  Ricci  bitterly  replied  :  "  Sint  ut  sunt, 
aut  non  sint"  ("  Let  them  be  as  they  are,  or  not  be  at 
all "),  the  proposal  was  openly  made  in  France.  But 
Parlement  refused  to  register  the  King's  decree,  and  went 
on  to  close  eighty-four  Jesuit  colleges.  All  through  the 
spring  and  summer  the  fusillade  of  pamphlets  and  the 
fiery  debates  of  Parlements  were  sustained,  the  Jesuits 
straining  every  resource  to  avert  the  blow,  and  on 
6th  August  1762  the  Paris  Parlement  decreed  that  the 
Society  must  cease  to  exist  in  France.  The  Jesuits 
were  expelled  from  their  residences,  and  a  small  pension 
was  allotted  them  out  of  the  confiscated  property.  Their 
entire  property  in  France  was  valued  at  nearly  60,000,000 
francs,  and  they  had,  as  it  proved,  forfeited  this  rather 
than  pay  the  just  debts  of  Lavalette.  At  the  same  time 
the  Paris  Parlement  condemned  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  works  written  by  Jesuits  between  1600  and  1762. 

Louis  XV.  signed  the  decree  of  suppression  in  De- 
cember 1764,  and  from  school  and  palace,  from  humble 
residences  among  the  poor  and  the  mansions  of  princes, 
the  Jesuits  sadly  made  their  way  toward  the  frontiers 
of  the  land  in  which  they  had  so  long  enjoyed  and 
abused  a  remarkable  power.  In  vain  was  the  Pope 
induced  to  protest  against  the  action  of  Louis  xv. 
Some  of  the  chief  provincial  Parlements  condemned 
the  Pope's  bull  to  be  burned  in  the  public  square,  and 
the  Parlement  of  Paris  disdainfully  rejected  it.  The 
vast  majority  of  the  nation  applauded  the  suppression  ; 
and,  once  their  power  was  gone,  the  Jesuits  were  over- 
whelmed by  the  flood  of  hatred  that  now  rose  freely 
against  them.  It  was  useless  to  plead  that  a  few 
sceptical  lawyers  or  statesmen  had  wrought  their  ruin. 
In  a  few  localities  they  were  still  protected  by  the 
Provincial  authorities  ;  but  the  country  at  large,  by  the 


252  THE  JESUITS 

mouths  of  its  officials  and  the  great  body  of  its  clergy, 
rejoiced  in  their  fall.  They  sought  at  first  to  parry  the 
blow  with  customary  manoeuvres.  Large  numbers  of 
them  laid  aside  their  dress  and  name,  and  remained  to 
intrigue  against  their  opponents;  and  in  1767  the 
Paris  Parlement  decreed  that  they  must  all  leave  the 
country.  Except  for  a  few  who  still  remained  as 
private  teachers  of  the  young,  having  ostensibly  quitted 
the  Society,  and  a  few  who  were  sheltered  in  ultra- 
montane localities,  the  Jesuits  were  now  ignominiously 
expelled  from  the  land  of  St.  Louis.  And  few  will  read 
the  long  story  of  their  work  in  France  and  not  acknow- 
ledge that  it  was  a  just  conclusion  of  their  intrigues, 
shiftiness,  selfishness,  thirst  for  power,  unscrupulous 
persecution  of  rivals  or  opponents,  and  condescension 
to  vice  and  crime. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE  EXPULSION   FROM   PORTUGAL   AND   SPAIN 

In  the  Iberian  Peninsula  we  have  the  same  romantic 
story  of  the  Jesuits  being  cast  down  from  a  splendid 
prosperity  and  expelled  with  every  token  of  ignominy 
from  countries  in  which  they  had  almost  attained  a 
spiritual  dictatorship.  Here  again,  moreover,  our 
chronicle  will  deal  almost  exclusively  with  the  actions 
of  a  junta  of  court-Jesuits  who  bring  the  calamity  upon 
their  Society.  It  would  not  be  unnatural  to  suspect  that 
in  this  there  is  some  partiality  ;  that  I  ignore  the  saintly 
or  learned  or  philanthropic  achievements  of  the  majority 
and  bring  into  prominence  only  the  court-intrigues  and 
abuses  of  power  of  a  few.  But  a  glance  at  the  works 
of  apologetic  writers  will  show  that  the  candid  historian 
has  no  alternative.  Considering  the  number  and  re- 
sources of  the  Jesuits  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  their  record  is  singularly  barren  of  great  and 
good  deeds.  A  few  examples  of  shining  devotion, 
which  we  will  notice  as  we  proceed,  and  a  few  small 
scandals,  which  we  will  generally  ignore,  do  little  to 
vary  the  undistinguished  monotony  of  the  general  life. 
The  majority  of  the  Portuguese  and  Spanish  Jesuits 
merely  continue  the  work  of  teaching,  preaching,  and 
writing  works  of  theology,  in  comfortable  and  unascetic 
homes,  which  we  have  previously  described.  Our  story, 
like  the  general  history  of  Spain  and  Portugal  at  the 
time,  is  mainly  concerned  with  courtiers  and  politicians. 

253 


254  THE  JESUITS 

We  begin  with  Portugal,  where  the  first  destructive 
blow  fell  on  the  Society.     A  Portuguese  Jesuit,  Father 
Franco,  has  left  us  an  admiring  chronicle  of  the  doings 
of  his  colleagues  down  to  the  end  of  the  first  quarter 
of     the     eighteenth     century.        His     work     (Synopsis 
Anfiahum  Societatis  Jesu  hi  Lusitania,    1726)  entirely 
confirms  the  feeling  that    the  life  of  the  vast  majority 
of  the  Portuguese  Jesuits  is  not   material    for  history  ; 
it  is  little  more  than  a  record  of  the  deaths  of  undis- 
tinguished (but  always  very  saintly)  Jesuits,  with  a  few 
discreet  references  to  those  events  at  court  which  are 
of  real  interest.      It  is  true  that  Father  Franco  appends 
a  list  of  thousands  of  Jesuits  who  have  gone  to  spend 
or  lose  their  lives  in  Brazil  or  India,  but  we  shall  see 
that   in    the   period   with    which   we   are    dealing  these 
missionary    fields    provided    much    comfort    and    little 
danger.     The    heroic   age    was    over ;    it   was    the   age 
when    royal    confessors    enabled    their   brethren   to  sun 
themselves  indolently  in  the  warmth  of  royal  favour. 

The  close  of  the  reign  of  John  iv.  in  1656  saw  the 
power  and  wealth  of  the  Jesuits  greater  than  they  had 
ever  been  before.  We  saw  that  at  the  revolution  of 
1640,  when  Portugal  won  its  independence  from  Spain, 
the  Jesuits  had  so  nicely  distributed  their  forces  that 
some  were  sure  to  be  on  the  winning  side  ;  and  John  iv. 
was  not  the  man  to  inquire  too  closely  into  their  con- 
duct. His  court  soon  filled  with  Jesuits.  Father 
Nunez,  a  man  of  great  piety  and  austerity,  who  had 
an  excellent  moral  influence  on  the  noble  dames  of  the 
court,  guarded  the  consciences  of  Queen  Luisa  and  her 
children.  Father  Fernandez,  a  very  different  type  of 
Jesuit,  was  confessor  to  the  King,  and  had  great 
political  influence.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State- 
Council  and  Bishop  of  Japan,  and  he  bore  his  dignities 
with  a  consciousness  which  greatly  irritated  the  nobles. 


EXPULSION  FROM  PORTUGAL  AND  SPAIN     255 

When  his  humbler  colleague,  Nunez,  died,  he  became 
confessor  to  the  Queen  also,  and  attained  a  great 
ascendancy  over  the  King.  When  the  Viceroy  of 
India,  remarking  that  Jesuits  were  forbidden  to  engage 
in  commerce,  took  from  the  Jesuits  in  that  country 
property  worth  twenty  thousand  crowns  a  year,  which 
they  had  acquired  by  commerce,  Fernandez  induced 
the  King  to  overrule  him  and  order  the  restoration  of 
the  property.  In  addition,  John  iv.  gave  large  annual 
sums  to  the  foreign  missions,  and  a  comfortable  sum 
as  "viaticum"  to  each  priest  who  left  Portugal  for  the 
missions ;  and  he  made  them  presents  of  palaces,  and 
showered  other  benefits  on  them. 

When  John  died,  and  Luisa  became  Regent  for  her 
young  son,  the  angry  nobles  made  a  vigorous  effort  to 
dislodge  the  Jesuits.  John's  elder  son,  who  had  had  a 
Jesuit  tutor,  had  refused  to  marry,  and  had  wished  to 
join  the  Society.  Men  recalled  the  earlier  King 
Sebastian,  and  said  that  the  Jesuits  were  attempting 
to  seize  the  crown.  The  Jesuit-tutor  was  even  accused 
of  betraying  the  military  secrets  of  the  country  ;  and  one 
of  his  colleagues.  Father  Vieira,  was  so  badly  com- 
promised by  a  letter  of  his  which  was  intercepted  that 
John  had  been  compelled  to  make  a  foreign  ambassador 
of  him ;  another  Jesuit  was  the  diplomatic  repre- 
sentative of  Portugal  at  Rome.  The  nobles  resented 
this  situation ;  but  Fernandez  was  in  too  strong  a 
position,  and  the  rule  of  the  Jesuits  continued  under 
the  Regency.  Fernandez  died,  however,  in  1660,  and 
it  is  a  second  Jesuit  of  that  name  (as  is  sometimes  for- 
gotten) who  took  a  leading  part  in  the  extraordinary 
events  of  the  year  1668. 

The  elder  prince,  Theodose,  had  died  prematurely, 
and  Alphonso  succeeded  to  the  throne.  Whether  there 
was    some    incurably    morbid    strain    in    the    youth,    or 


256  THE  JESUITS 

whether  the  Jesuit  tuition  had  made  him  incapable  of 
serious  political  life,  we  cannot  say  ;  but,  as  he  grew  to 
manhood,  Alphonso  vi.  entered  upon  ways  of  violence 
and  licence  which  recall  the  youth  of  Nero.  His  court 
was  filled  with  the  wild  companions  of  his  orgies,  and 
he  paraded  his  vices  on  the  streets  and  in  the  taverns 
of  his  capital.  He  exchanged  his  Jesuit  confessor  for  a 
Benedictine  monk,  snatched  the  reins  from  the  hands 
of  his  mother,  and  threatened  to  drag  the  country  very 
speedily  into  the  abyss  which  awaited  it.  Sober  nobles 
and  statesmen  looked  on  with  alarm,  and  it  was  inevi- 
table that  a  conspiracy  to  dethrone  him  should  shortly 
arise.  But  the  details  of  the  revolution,  in  which  the 
Jesuits  were  very  active,  reflect  little  honour  on  its 
actors. 

Alphonso  had  married  Marie  Isabelle  de  Savoie- 
Nemours,  whose  Jesuit  confessor,  Father  de  Ville, 
listened  sympathetically  to  the  story  of  the  outrages 
she  endured.  Father  de  Ville  and  his  colleaofues  were 
not  less  sympathetic  when  Marie  Isabelle  transferred 
her  affection  to  the  King's  handsome  young  brother, 
Dom  Pedro,  and  they  entered  into  a  plot  to  replace 
Alphonso  by  Pedro.  The  chief  plotter  seems  to  have 
been  Father  Vieira,  whom  the  French  historian  regards 
as  the  glory  of  the  Portuguese  Province  at  that  time. 
Vieira  was  not  without  ability,  but  he  was  a  turbulent 
and  meddlesome  politician,  and  so  eccentric  in  his  re- 
ligious ideas  that  he  fell  into  the  prison  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion. The  Jesuits  secretly  engaged  the  nobles  in  a  plan 
to  dethrone  and  divorce  Alphonso  and  replace  him  by 
his  brother.  Divorce  is,  of  course,  unknown  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  but  it  has  never  failed  to  discover  a 
flaw  in  a  marriage  which  it  was  expedient  to  undo,  and, 
with  something  very  like  levity  or  cynicism,  the  Jesuits 
and  the  Queen  determined  to  accuse  the  King  of  im- 


EXPULSION  FROM   PORTUGAL   AND  SPAIN      257 

potence  and  get  the  marriage  annulled  :  a  king  who 
was  notorious  for  his  amours  and  had  had  a  child  by 
one  of  his  mistresses.  Pedro  was  then  informed  of  the 
Queen's  amiable  disposition  and  the  support  of  the 
nobles,  and  the  conspiracy  began. 

The  King  was  recalled  from  his  licentious  pleasures 
by  an  announcement  that  the  Queen  had  retired  to  a 
convent  and  demanded  the  restitution  of  her  dowry. 
He  flew  to  the  convent,  but  found  his  brother  there 
with  an  armed  force  to  protect  the  Queen,  and,  after  a 
fruitless  struggle,  he  was  compelled  to  abdicate  and  to 
testify  to  the  virginity  of  the  Queen.  We  have  the 
word  of  the  English  ambassador  that  Father  de  Ville 
and  his  colleagues  were  the  chief  authors  of  this 
audacious  plot,  or  "comedy,"  as  the  Jesuit  apologist 
calls  it.  The  marriage  was  dissolved  in  March  (1668), 
and  it  was  arranged  that  a  deputation  of  the  Cortes 
should  wait  upon  Marie  Isabelle,  and  entreat  her  to 
marry  Pedro,  as  Portugal  was  too  poor  to  return  her 
dowry.  The  marriage  was  celebrated  a  few  weeks 
later,  Alphonso  was  sent  into  a  comfortable  exile,  and 
the  Jesuits  returned  to  power  at  the  court.  Sincerely 
as  we  may  applaud  the  purification  of  the  sordid  palace 
and  the  relief  of  the  young  Queen,  we  must  recognise 
that  the  procedure  betrays  a  considerable  lack  of  moral 
delicacy. 

The  gratitude  of  Pedro  to  his  Jesuit  confessor, 
Fernandez,  and  his  colleagues  could  not  be  other  than 
princely.  He  even  made  Fernandez  a  deputy  of  the 
Cortes  (where  he  needed  supporters),  and  we  gather 
from  the  stern  letter  (given  in  Franco)  in  which 
General  Oliva  denounced  this  action  to  the  authorities 
of  the  Portuguese  Province  that  Fernandez  was  very 
reluctant  to  resign  the  honour.  Under  threat  of 
punishment  he  yielded,  but  he  maintained  an  absolute 
17 


258  THE  JESUITS 

authority  over  King  Pedro  and  placed  his  Society  in 
a  stronger  position  than  ever.  In  the  Jesuit  docu- 
ments of  the  time  we  find  constant  reference  to  "  the 
Fathers  of  the  Palace  "  and  the  immense  benefits  they 
procure  for  their  colleagues.  Through  the  King  they 
secured  a  modification  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition — 
which  had  lately  imprisoned  one  of  their  ablest  men — 
and  in  many  of  the  colonies  they  obtained  a  monopoly 
of  the  trade  with  the  natives  and  acquired  a  wealth 
similar  to  that  of  the  Spanish  fathers  in  Paraguay. 
Pedro's  second  wife  was  no  less  generous  to  the  Society 
than  Luisa  had  been,  and  the  ex-Queen  of  England, 
who  returned  to  Portugal  in  1693,  joined  in  the 
enrichment  of  the  Jesuits.  When  Pedro  died  in 
1706,  his  son  John  v.  continued  to  patronise  the 
Society  and  enfeeble'  the  kingdom.  There  were  now 
more  than  a  dozen  Jesuits  at  the  Portuguese  court,  and 
for  many  years  it  was  hardly  possible  to  approach  the 
King  without  their  permission. 

During  the  long  reign  of  the  incompetent  and 
superstitious  John  v.  Portugal  sank  rapidly  into  the 
decline  that  awaited  her.  Not  only  did  Jesuits  under- 
take commerce  in  the  colonies  and  absorb  vast  sums 
of  money  in  donations  and  annuities,  but  the  Church 
at  large  is  calculated  to  have  received  about  five 
hundred  million  francs,  wrung  mainly  from  the  de- 
caying colonies,  from  the  priest-ridden  monarch.  The 
Jesuits  are  by  no  means  wholly  responsible  for  the 
scandalous  expenditure  and  economic  folly  of  John  v., 
or  for  the  revival  of  the  burning  of  heretics  and  the 
erection  of  palatial  monasteries.  In  his  later  years  the 
Kino-  transferred  his  favour  to  Oratorian  and  Franciscan 
priests,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  long  reign  of  the  Jesuits 
was  seriously  threatened.  But  this  appalling  clerical 
parasitism    and   disregard    of   national    economy,   which 


EXPULSION   FROM   PORTUGAL  AND  SPAIN      259 

were  fast  sapping  the  strength  of  Portugal,  were  only 
the  culmination  of  the  sentiments  which  the  Jesuits 
had  cultivated  in  the  Portuguese  court  for  a  century. 

The  King  died  in  1750,  and  the  Jesuits  returned  to 
power  under  his  son  Joseph.  Father  Moreira  was  the 
King's  confessor,  and  Father  Oliveira  the  tutor  of  his 
children  ;  Father  Costa  was  the  spiritual  guide  of  his 
brother  Pedro,  Father  Campo  of  his  uncle  Antonio,  and 
Father  Aranjues  of  his  uncle  Emmanuel.  The  junta 
was  completely  restored,  and  the  government  was  again 
virtually  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits.  There  had, 
however,  now  come  into  the  political  life  of  Portugal 
a  man  who  was  destined  to  shake  the  European  power 
of  the  Jesuits  and,  within  the  short  space  of  ten  years, 
to  drive  them  from  the  Empire  in  poverty  and  disgrace. 

Sebastian  Joseph  de  Carvalho,  Count  of  Oeyras  and 
Marquis  of  Pombal,  had  been  a  member  of  one  of  the 
Jesuit  Congregations  for  laymen  and  had  obtained  office, 
as  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  with  their 
cordial  agreement.  There  is  nothing  either  mysterious 
or  discreditable  in  his  hostility  to  the  Jesuits.  Even  if 
it  be  true  that  he  at  times  fought  them  with  their  own 
improper  weapons,  the  ground  of  the  conflict  is  plain. 
He  perceived,  as  every  non-Catholic  historian  perceives 
to-day,  that  their  rule  was  as  mischievous  to  the  State 
as  it  was  profitable  to  their  own  Society,  and,  as 
Foreign  Minister  and  lay  man  of  business,  he  recognised 
that  their  commercial  activity  in  the  colonies  was  in- 
jurious to  the  laity  and  inconsistent  with  their  pro- 
fessions. To  say  that  he  was  influenced  by  the  works 
of  the  French  philosophers  is  absurd — he  had  no 
sympathy  with  their  ideas — nor  is  it  less  unjust  to  say 
that  he  wished  to  protestantise  the  Portuguese  Church. 
It  was  precisely  as  a  Catholic  and  a  patriot  that  he 
set  out  to  reform  the   swollen   and  degenerate  Church 


26o  THE  JESUITS 

and  invigorate  the  national  economy.  We  need  not 
imagine  vices  in  Pombal  when  the  defects  of  the  Jesuits 
are  so  flagrant. 

The  strong  man  was  fortunate  in  having  a  weak, 
timid,  and  indolent  monarch,  and  hardly  less  fortunate 
in  the  fact  that  the  King  had  a  stronger  and  more 
attractive  brother  on  whose  associates  suspicion  could 
easily  be  cast.  It  is  difficult  to-day  to  ascertain  what 
truth  there  is  in  the  charge  that  Dom  Pedro  aspired  to 
the  throne  and  had  the  secret  support  of  the  Jesuits. 
King  Joseph  was  not  indisposed  to  believe  such  a 
charge,  and  events  soon  occurred  which  gave  it  plausi- 
bility. In  1752  the  Portuguese  proposed  to  cede 
Sacramento  to  Spain  in  return  for  a  part  of  Paraguay 
in  which  the  Jesuits  had  seven  of  their  profitable 
"reductions,"  and,  when  the  troops  went  to  enforce  the 
change  of  frontiers,  the  pupils  of  the  Jesuits  made  a 
sanguinary  resistance.  It  is  possible  to  quote  letters 
in  which  the  Jesuits  advised  submission,  but  a  secret 
letter  from  one  of  the  leading  Spanish  Jesuits  to  the 
American  fathers  was  intercepted  and  was  found  to 
advise  resistance.  Further  troops  were  sent,  the  Jesuits 
and  their  pupils  were  expelled,  and  Pombal  drew  up 
and  circulated  a  memoir  on  the  action  of  the  Jesuits 
and  the  virtual  slavery  which  they  maintained  in  the 
reductions.  Their  monopoly  of  trade  with  the  natives 
was  abrogated,  and  Pombal  was  interested  in  a  company 
which  sought  to  secure  the  trade.  The  Jesuits  fiercely 
attacked  this  change,  and  two  members  of  the  Society 
were  exiled. 

For  a  time  the  campaign  of  Pombal  was  then 
arrested  by  the  appalling  earthquake  which  devastated 
Lisbon  in  the  year  1755.  The  timid  and  superstitious 
Kine  was  undecided  as  to  the  nature  of  the  omen.  At 
first,  when  it  was  found  that  Pombal's  house  had  been 


EXPULSION  FROM   PORTUGAL  AND  SPAIN     261 

spared  while  seven  Jesuit  houses  had  been  wrecked, 
he  was  disposed  to  see  in  the  catastrophe  a  punishment 
of  the  sins  of  the  Jesuits ;  but  those  artful  casuists 
easily  persuaded  the  country  that  the  only  new  event 
in  the  life  of  Portugal  to  account  for  this  outpour  of 
divine  wrath  was  the  persecution  of  the  Society,  and 
their  zeal  in  succouring  the  homeless  earned  for  them 
a  great  deal  of  sympathy.  The  exiled  Jesuits  were 
recalled,  and  they  seemed  to  recover  all  the  ground 
they  had  lost  in  the  preceding  ten  years. 

With  a  maladroitness  which  we  recognise  so  often 
in  the  annals  of  the  Society,  the  Jesuits  then  went  on  to 
attack  Pombal,  and  their  churches  rang  with  denuncia- 
tion of  the  great  reformer.  With  all  his  faults  Joseph  i. 
had  wisdom  enough  to  choose  between  the  Jesuits  and 
his  able  minister.  Pombal  had  effected  more  real 
reform  in  Portugal  than  Jesuit  politicians  had  done  in 
their  two  centuries  of  influence ;  he  had  abolished 
atitos  da  fe,  curbed  the  power  of  the  Inquisition,  clipped 
the  parasitic  growth  of  monks,  set  bounds  to  the 
pretensions  of  the  nobles,  and  made  great  reforms  in 
every  branch  of  the  administration.  He  was  a  hard 
and  ruthless  man,  sharing,  to  some  extent,  the  Jesuit 
feeling  that  the  end  justified  the  means,  but  he  was 
a  sincere  and  enlightened  patriot.  He  retained  his 
influence  over  the  King  and  took  the  next  step  in  his 
campaign  against  the  Society. 

It  was  not  until  1756  that  the  resistance  of  the 
natives  in  the  Jesuit  reductions  was  finally  overcome, 
and  the  proofs  (which  we  will  see  later)  of  secret  Jesuit 
provocation  deeply  impressed  the  King.  There  was  at 
that  time  on  the  papal  throne  a  Pope  who  had  re- 
peatedly condemned  the  Jesuits.  We  shall  see  later 
that  their  behaviour  on  the  Chinese  and  Indian  missions 
was,  in  a  different  way,  as  irregular  as  their  behaviour 


262  THE  JESUITS 

in  South  America,  and  Benedict  xiv.  severely  con- 
demned them.  His  chief  minister,  Cardinal  Passionei, 
was  also  opposed  to  the  Jesuits.  King  Joseph  now 
submitted  to  the  Vatican  an  account  of  the  conduct  of 
the  Jesuits  in  South  America  and  asked  that  they  should 
be  reformed.  Meantime,  in  the  autumn  of  1757, 
Pombal  persuaded  the  King  that  the  Jesuits  were 
fomenting  disorder  in  Portugal  itself,  and  an  order  was 
signed  for  the  expulsion  of  all  Jesuit  confessors  from  the 
court.  In  the  night  of  i9th-20th  September  the  servants 
and  soldiers  entered  the  palace,  and  Fathers  Moreira, 
Costa,  and  Oliviera  awoke  to  find  themselves  sentenced 
to  removal  from  their  comfortable  offices.  Pombal  then 
ordered  that  no  Jesuit  should  be  allowed  to  approach 
the  court,  sent  a  very  forcible  justification  of  the  King's 
conduct  to  the  other  European  courts,  and  pressed  the 
demand  for  reform  at  Rome. 

On  I  St  April  1758  the  Pope  signed  the  decree  for 
an  inquiry  into  the  behaviour  of  the  Jesuits,  and  Cardinal 
Saldanha  was  sent  to  South  America  to  conduct  the 
inquiry.  The  proceedings  at  Rome  had  been  kept 
secret  from  the  Jesuits  until  the  decree  was  signed,  and 
Pombal's  agents  had  secured  the  appointment  of  a 
cardinal  who  was  no  friend  of  the  Society.  But  both 
the  Pope  and  the  General  died  in  the  spring  of  that 
year,  and,  when  Cardinal  Saldanha  justly  reported  that 
the  Jesuits  of  South  America  had  been  wrongly  engaged 
in  commerce,  the  new  General,  Ricci,  appealed  to  the 
new  Pope,  Clement  xiii.,  who  was  known  to  be  favour- 
able to  the  Society.  Clement  appointed  a  commission 
of  inquiry  which,  being  composed  of  friends  of  the 
Society  and  making  no  investigation  on  the  spot, 
declared  the  Jesuits  innocent. 

The  declaration  was  absurd  and  insincere,  as  we 
shall  appreciate  when  we  come  to  examine  the  conduct 


EXPULSION  FROM  PORTUGAL  AND  SPAIN      263 

of  the  Jesuits  on  the  missions,  and  Pombal  saw  that  he 
must  deal  with  the  fathers  in  Portugal.  In  June  (1758) 
the  cardinal-patriarch  had  laid  an  interdict  on  all  the 
Jesuits  in  the  diocese  of  Lisbon,  and  public  opinion 
seemed  to  be  prepared  for  a  drastic  step.  An  event 
that  occurred  in  the  night  of  3rd-4th  September  of 
that  year  gave  Pombal  his  opportunity.  As  the  King 
returned  from  the  house  of  his  mistress,  the  Marchioness 
Tavora,  several  shots  were  fired  at  him,  and  a  large 
number  of  members  of  the  Tavora  family  were  arrested 
and  put  to  the  torture.  One  of  the  prisoners,  the  Duke 
d'Aveiro,  said,  under  torture,  that  the  Jesuits  were  privy 
to  the  conspiracy,  and  eight  of  the  leading  fathers  were 
arrested  and  tortured.  The  duke  afterwards  retracted, 
and  it  must  be  said  that,  beyond  this  worthless  declara- 
tion, there  is  no  positive  evidence  to  connect  the  Jesuits 
with  the  outrage,  though  they  had  been  in  close  corre- 
spondence with  the  Tavoras.  They  were,  however,  not 
punished  on  that  ground  with  the  other  prisoners.  Only 
one  of  the  Jesuits  was  executed,  but  for  heresy,  not 
treason  ;  the  others  were  kept  in  prison,  while  all  the 
Tavoras  were  executed. 

Instead  of  attempting  to  proceed  against  the  Jesuits 
on  such  discreditable  evidence  Pombal  took  the  more 
effective  ground  that  their  moral  principles,  especially 
in  regard  to  assassination,  were  the  ultimate  source  of 
such  outrages,  and  a  very  fierce  controversy  ensued.  It 
seemed  to  become  gradually  plain  to  all  that  the  long 
conflict  of  the  Jesuits  and  their  opponents  was  about 
to  enter  on  its  last  stage.  There  were  bishops  who 
supported  Pombal,  and  bishops  who  appealed  to  the 
Pope  to  check  his  progress.  What  Pombal  mostly 
feared  was  the  stirring  of  the  ignorant  and  superstitious 
masses,  and  he  proceeded  with  great  caution.  Before 
his  project  was  realised  in   Portugal,  the  Jesuits  of  the 


264  THE  JESUITS 

colonies  were  on  their  way,  under  guard,  to  the  mother- 
country,  and,  when  they  arrived,  the  Jesuit  houses  were 
surrounded  by  soldiers,  the  more  active  fathers  were 
transferred  to  prison,  and  the  rest  were  prevented  from 
communicating  with  the  laity.  By  the  month  of  April 
1759  about  1500  Jesuits  were  in  jail  or  under  guard. 
The  King  then  informed  the  Pope  that  he  was  about  to 
expel  the  fathers  from  his  dominions.  When  Clement 
protested,  stronger  evidence  of  their  intrigues  was 
produced,  and  it  is  the  general  feeling  of  impartial  con- 
temporaries (like  the  English  historian  Coxe)  and  later 
authorities  that  some  of  these  documents  were  foro^ed. 
Clement  still  refused  to  sanction  the  expulsion,  and  a 
ruthless  and  indefensible  step  was  taken  by  Pombal. 
On  the  feast  of  St.  Ignatius  (31st  July)  six  Jesuits  were 
condemned  to  be  broken  on  the  wheel,  as  if  some  value 
were  now  attributed  to  the  evidence  of  a  tortured 
witness. 

This  unjust  sentence  was  not  carried  out,  probably 
from  a  fear  that  the  Pope  would  seriously  question  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  civic  authorities,  but  the  plight  of  the 
Jesuits  was  lamentable.  It  was  in  Portugal  that  they 
had  first  attained  power  and  wealth,  and  they  had 
enjoyed  an  almost  uninterrupted  dominion  for  two 
centuries  ;  now  they  lay  on  straw  in  the  common  jails, 
or  tremblingly  discussed  the  dark  future  in  their  over- 
crowded residences.  On  the  first  day  of  September 
the  sentence  of  expulsion  was  enforced.  The  younger 
Jesuits  were  offered  a  dispensation  from  their  vows  by 
Cardinal  Saldanha,  but  few  accepted  it,  and  the  majority 
of  them  were  put  on  ship  and  conveyed  to  the  Pope's 
dominions.  Pombal  was  cruel  and  unjust  to  the  end  in 
the  realisation  of  his  design  ;  it  is  possible  that  he  feared 
their  later  activity  on  foreign  soil.  There  may  be  some 
exaggeration  in  the  stories  of  their  hardships,  and  indeed 


EXPULSION  FROM  PORTUGAL  AND   SPAIN      265 

such  a  sentence  could  not  be  carried  out  without  hard- 
ship, but  one  cannot  defend  his  action  in  keeping 
221  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  jails  of  Portugal.  One  of 
them,  Father  Malagrida,  an  old  man  of  seventy-two, 
seems  to  have  been  a  little  deranged  by  his  imprison- 
ment, and  certain  works  which  he  wrote  in  prison  were 
submitted  to  the  Inquisition.  He  was  condemned  to  be 
burned  alive  by  the  very  tribunal  which  the  Jesuits  had 
been  instrumental  in  establishing-  in  Portugal.  Of  the 
200  Jesuits,  88  died  in  jail,  and  the  rest  lingered  in 
their  humiliating  captivity  until  the  death  of  Joseph  i. 
and  dismissal  of  Pombal  in  1777.  By  that  time  their 
Society  had  ceased  to  exist. 

Such  was  the  tragic  issue  of  Jesuit  history  in  the 
land  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  the 
safest  and  most  generous  country  in  which  they  had 
taken  root.  However  severely  we  may  censure  the 
detailed  procedure  of  the  Marquis  de  Pombal,  his  action 
was  in  substance  just  and  patriotic.  Portugal,  which,  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  had  promised  to  become  one  of 
the  greatest  powers  in  the  world,  had  sunk  to  a  humili- 
ating depth,  and  its  decay  had  proceeded  apace  with  the 
power  of  political  Jesuits.  They  were  incapable  of  a 
patriotic  conception  of  the  task  of  governing,  and  they 
took  advantage  of  and  encouraged  the  economic  folly  of 
living  on  overburdened  colonies.  If  they  were  unwilling 
to  discharge  the  proper  duties  of  priests  and  refrain  from 
intrigue  for  political  power,  they  must  depart. 

We  have  already  seen  how  this  bold  stroke  echoed 
in  France  and  encouraged  the  enemies  of  the  Society. 
We  must  now  turn  to  Spain  and  see  how  "  the  most 
Catholic  majesties  "  of  that  country  came  to  follow  the 
terrible  example  of  Pombal.  The  general  outline  of 
the  story  is  somewhat  similar  to  that  of  the  story  of 
Portugal.     A    series    of   weak   and   incompetent   rulers 


266  THE  JESUITS 

occupy  the  throne ;  they  are  dominated  (generally)  by  a 
group  of  court- Jesuits,  who  teach  them  that  the  main 
duty  of  a  king  is  to  be  chaste,  zealous  for  the  faith,  and 
generous  to  the  Church  ;  the  broad  empire  of  Spain 
is  repeatedly  shorn,  as  its  increasing  weakness  is 
exposed  ;  and  at  length  a  strong  man  realises  the  evil 
of  Jesuit  domination  and  induces  the  King  to  send  the 
fathers  back  to  the  Pope's  dominions  from  which  they 
came.  In  one  respect  the  story  is  even  more  unpleasant 
than  that  which  we  have  just  concluded.  Chaste  as  the 
Spanish  monarchs  generally  are  in  this  period,  they  are 
so  weak  and  purblind  that  the  court  is  filled  with  the 
most  sordid  intrigues  for  power,  and  the  Jesuits  are 
deeply  involved  in  these  intrigues. 

We  left  the  Society  in  Spain  enjoying  a  splendid 
prosperity  in  the  early  years  of  the  reign  of  Philip  iv. 
Readers  of  Major  Hume's  brilliant  Court  of  Philip  iv. 
(1907)  will  not  need  to  be  reminded  that  this  was  "the 
gayest  and  wickedest  court  since  the  days  of  Helio- 
gabalus,"  and  that  Madrid  was  in  a  repellent  condition 
of  vice  and  decadence.  The  Kinsf's  confessor  was  not 
a  Jesuit,  but  a  worthless  Dominican,  and  there  were 
spirited  struggles  between  the  rival  orders.  However, 
the  Jesuits  still  guided  the  consciences  of  most  of  the 
nobles  and  wealthy  people,  and  were  generously 
patronised  by  the  King.  They  prospered  richly  in  the 
decaying  kingdom,  were  indifferent  to  the  periodical 
national  disasters,  and  claim  only  that  they  produced 
such  brilliant  casuists  as  Escobar,  At  the  end  of  this 
long  and  dreary  reign  the  chronicle  of  the  Society 
becomes  more  interestinor. 

An  infant  of  four  years,  Charles  11.,  inherited  the 
throne,  and  this  gave  the  Jesuits  an  opportunity  under 
the  Regency  of  Maria  Anna,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  iii. 
Queen    Anna  had  brought  with  her  from  her  German 


EXPULSION  FROM  PORTUGAL  AND  SPAIN      267 

home  a  very  learned  Jesuit,  Father  Nidhard,  who  was 
her  confessor.  It  was  quite  natural  that  this  father 
should  attain  predominant  power  at  the  death  of  the 
King,  and  we  may  regard  it  as  a  piece  of  particularly 
frivolous  Castilian  gossip  that  the  sixty-year-old  priest 
had  a  more  tender  relation  to  the  Oueen  than  that  of 
political  adviser.  We  may  further  grant  that  Nidhard's 
power  was  used  unselfishly,  and  he  was  true  to  the 
ascetic  ideal  of  his  Society.  But  he  was  flagrantly  false 
to  other  and  more  important  rules  of  the  Society  in 
occupying  the  position  he  did,  and  he  added  a  heavy 
contribution  to  the  accumulating  hatred  of  the  Society. 
He  was  not  only  royal  confessor,  but  a  Councillor  of 
State — in  fact,  the  first  minister — and  Grand  Inquisitor. 
He  had  pleaded  his  rule  when  the  Queen  pressed  these 
dignities  on  him.  She  obtained  a  "dispensation"  from 
the  Pope,  and  Nidhard  then  posed  as  a  Jesuit  Ximenes 
and  ruled  Spain.  The  papal  document  gives  him  no 
moral  justification.  Had  he  and  his  superiors  willed,  he 
could  at  once  have  been  transferred  to  Germany.  They 
acquiesced  in  his  political  position  on  account  of  the 
power  it  gave  them. 

The  Spanish  nobles  chafed  under  the  rule  of  a  priest 
and  a  woman  and  were  irritated  to  see  the  decay  of  the 
nation  continue.  In  1668  they  lost  much  of  the  Low 
Countries  in  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  the 
independence  of  Portugal  was  recognised.  Don  Juan, 
a  natural  son  of  the  late  King,  seized  the  opportunity 
and  attacked  the  Jesuits.  They  appointed  the  prince 
governor  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  he  refused  to  go. 
They  forbade  him  to  approach  the  capital,  and  he  boldly 
advanced  to  Madrid  and  demanded  the  dismissal  of 
Nidhard.  The  troops  and  people  supported  him,  and, 
shedding  bitter  tears,  the  Queen  was  obliged  to 
"permit    Nidhard    to    retire    from    office."     The  crowd 


268  THE  JESUITS 

threatened  to  end  his  career  at  once,  but  he  escaped 
to  Rome,  where  he  became  Spanish  ambassador,  and 
afterwards  Cardinal  and  Archbishop  of  Edessa.  He 
had  greatly  strengthened  the  hostility  to  the  Jesuits  in 
Spain. 

The  long  and  disastrous  reign  of  Philip  was  followed 
by  the  long  and  disastrous  reign  of  his  weak-minded 
son,  and  Spain  decayed  with  frightful  rapidity.  Piety 
flourished — on  one  occasion  fifty  heretics  were  put  to 
death  for  the  entertainment  of  the  young  Queen — and 
the  misshapen  King  set  an  admirable  example  of 
chastity.  Few  were  sensible  of  the  greater  obligation 
of  arresting  the  decay  of  the  land,  and  the  Jesuits  were 
content  to  float  on  the  sluggish  stream.  It  is  probable 
that  their  wealth  reached  its  highest  point  during  the 
reign  of  Charles  ii. — "one  of  the  most  disastrous  reigns 
on  record,"  a  distinguished  historian  calls  it.  But  there 
would  be  little  interest  in  chronicling  the  princely  gifts 
and  legacies  they  received  and  the  handsome  houses 
they  erected.  Charles  died  of  old  age  in  his  fortieth 
year  ( 1 700),  and  was  persuaded  to  leave  the  throne  to 
the  Duke  of  Anjou  and  thus  ensure  the  protection  of 
Louis  XIV.  for  the  unfortunate  country.  From  this  point 
the  story  of  the  Spanish  Jesuits  assumes  a  livelier 
complexion. 

Philip  v.,  a  youth  of  seventeen,  was  entrusted  by 
Louis  XIV.  to  the  care  of  the  French  Jesuit  Daubenton. 
Father  Letellier  was  at  that  time  the  spiritual  guide 
of  the  grand  monarch,  and  he  had  recommended  his 
friend  and  colleague  Daubenton  for  the  important  post 
of  ruling  the  Spanish  King's  conscience.  Daubenton 
was  a  stout  little  man  who  concealed  an  immense 
aptitude  and  eagerness  for  intrigue  under  an  air  of  severe 
detachment  from  worldlv  affairs.  On  the  other  hand,  a 
brilliant  Frenchwoman,  the  Princess  Orsini,  was  sent  to 


EXPULSION  FROM  PORTUGAL  AND  SPAIN     269 

sustain  the  interests  of  France  in  the  Queen's  circle,  and 
she  succeeded  in  obtaining  so  strong  an  influence  that 
we  find  her  at  times  writing,  without  much  exaggeration, 
of  "  my  administration."  She  was  camerara  mayor  to 
the  young  Maria  Luisa — a  mere  girl — and  her  great 
power  drew  on  her  the  hatred  of  the  Spaniards  and  of 
some  of  the  French.  By  the  year  1703  the  court  was 
seething  with  intrigue.  The  memoirs  of  the  Duke  de 
Saint  Simon,  the  work  of  the  contemporary  English 
historian  Coxe,  and  the  letters  which  passed  between  the 
Spanish  and  French  courts  indicate  that  Daubenton  was 
the  most  active  and  insidious  agent  in  the  cabal  against 
the  Princess  Orsini.  A  very  sordid  intrigue  ran  through 
the  whole  of  the  year  1703,  and  it  ended  in  the  recall  of 
the  princess  to  France.  The  Queen  was,  however,  so 
angry  that  the  plot  was  exposed  to  Louis  xiv. — it  is 
authoritatively  narrated  in  the  correspondence  of  Louis 
and  Philip — and  Daubenton  was  dismissed  from  the 
court  in  disgrace  and  the  Princess  Orsini  permitted  to 
return. 

Another  French  Jesuit,  Father  Robinet,  succeeded 
Daubenton,  and  the  fate  of  his  predecessor  did  not 
intimidate  him  from  taking  an  interest  in  politics,  though 
he  at  first  made  the  same  pretence  of  aloofness  from 
secular  matters.  The  next  ten  years,  however,  passed 
without  notable  incident,  and  the  Spanish  Jesuits  con- 
tinued to  accumulate  wealth.  Saint  Simon  tells  us  that 
on  one  occasion  a  ship  from  South  America  discharged 
at  the  quays  of  Cadiz  several  boxes  addressed  to  "  The 
Procurator-General  of  the  Society  of  Jesus."  The 
contents  were  said  to  be  chocolate,  but  the  weioht  was 
extraordinary  and  the  officials  decided  to  open  one  of  the 
boxes.  It  was,  apparently,  full  of  bars  of  chocolate,  but 
the  weight  of  each  was  so  mysterious  that  they  were 
more  closely  examined.     They  were  bars  of  solid  gold, 


270  THE  JESUITS 

thickly  coated  with  chocolate.  This  incident  probably 
gave  support  to  the  rumour  in  Spain  that  the  Jesuits  had 
hidden  gold  mines  in  their  carefully  guarded  reductions, 
but  we  may  more  probably  recognise  the  direction  taken 
by  the  great  profit  on  the  reductions  and  the  reason  for 
the  determined  efforts  of  the  Jesuit  authorities  to  support 
their  fathers  in  this  uncanonical  industry. 

Queen  Luisa  died  in  the  year  17 14,  and  it  was 
believed  at  the  court,  and  is  not  improbable,  that 
Princess  Orsini  aspired  to  succeed  her.  She  was  then 
more  than  sixty  years  old,  but  she  still  had  great  charm 
and  ability  and  seemed  to  be  making  a  tender  impres- 
sion on  the  chaste  and  pious  and  weak-minded  young 
King.  Robinet  put  an  end  to  her  ambition  with  a  bold 
retort.  When  Philip  asked  him  one  day  what  the  latest 
news  was  from  Paris,  he  said  that  it  was  rumoured  that 
the  King  was  about  to  marry  Mme  Orsini,  Philip 
angrily  denied  it,  and  the  princess  very  shortly  passed 
out  of  the  political  life  of  Spain.  There  were,  however, 
many  others  interested  in  the  exile  of  Princess  Orsini, 
and  the  share  of  Father  Robinet  must  not  be  exaggerated. 
Spain  had  continued  to  decay.  At  the  peace  of  17 13 
her  empire  was  shorn  of  Sicily,  Milan,  Naples, 
Sardinia,  the  Netherlands,  Gibraltar,  and  Minorca. 
Philip  consulted  his  Jesuit  advisers  several  times  a  day, 
but  neither  they  nor  his  other  counsellors  could  do  more 
than  intrigue  for  power  in  the  shrinking  kingdom.  The 
Abbe  (later  Cardinal)  Alberoni  was  now  rising  to  power, 
and  was  associated  with  Robinet  in  the  ruin  of  Princess 
Orsini.  Alberoni  persuaded  Philip  that  Elizabeth 
P'arnese  was  just  the  quiet  and  modest  young  princess 
he  desired  for  his  second  wife,  and  Philip  yielded.  But 
Elizabeth,  a  haughty  and  passionate  maiden,  was  in- 
structed beforehand  in  her  duty,  and  at  their  first  meeting 
she  brutally  dismissed  the  princess.     Then  Alberoni  and 


EXPULSION  FROM  PORTUGAL  AND  SPAIN      271 

Robinet  quarrelled  about  the  appointment  of  a  new 
Archbishop  of  Toledo.  Robinet  secured  the  dignity 
for  a  friend  of  the  Society  (17 15),  and  he  in  turn  incurred 
the  anger  of  the  Queen  and  Alberoni  and  was  exiled  to 
Germany. 

Before  he  left,  Robinet  persuaded  Philip  to  recall 
Daubenton  to  his  side,  and  from  that  moment  the 
court  intrigue  turned  against  Alberoni.  In  this 
Daubenton  played  a  subordinate,  but  important,  part. 
The  English  and  French  courts,  as  well  as  many  of  the 
Spaniards,  were  eager  for  the  dismissal  of  the  Italian 
favourite,  and  Daubenton,  who  confessed  Philip  twice  a 
day  and  had  other  consultations  with  him,  was  employed 
by  them  to  poison  the  King  against  his  minister. 
Philip  was  persuaded  that  the  great  plans  of  Alberoni 
contained  a  danger  to  the  country  and  he  dismissed  him. 
In  this  case  the  Jesuit  confessor  allowed  himself  to 
become  the  tool  of  the  enemies  of  Spain  and  intrigued 
against  its  ablest  statesman. 

In  the  year  1724  Philip  handed  the  crown  to  his 
son  Louis,  and  retired  to  consecrate  his  useless  life  to 
religious  devotions.  There  is  no  serious  evidence  that 
the  Jesuits  pressed  Philip  to  resign,  though  they 
certainly  tried  to  dissuade  him  from  resuming  the  crown, 
and  they  had  taken  part  in  marrying  Louis  to  the 
daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  However  that  may 
be,  Louis  died  a  few  months  later  and  Philip  returned 
to  the  throne. 

Daubenton  had  died  in  1723,  and  his  place  had  been 
taken  by  the  Jesuit  Bermudez,  who  sustained  the 
tradition  of  intrigue.  The  successor  of  Alberoni  was  a 
Spaniard  from  the  Low  Countries,  Ripperda,  who  was 
obnoxious  to  the  Jesuits  on  many  grounds.  In  Holland 
he  had  consulted  his  ambition  by  turning  Protestant,  and 
on  his  return  to  Spain,  where  he  found  favour  with  the 


272  THE  JESUITS 

King,  he  promptly  recovered  his  belief  in  the  older 
creed.  The  Queen's  confessor,  a  Jesuit  who  rejoiced  in 
the  title  and  robes  of  Archbishop  of  Amida,  intrigued 
against  this  sino^ular  adventurer  and  overthrew  him. 
Here  again  the  Jesuit  merely  used  his  opportunities  to 
voice  the  resentment  of  many  others,  nor  do  historians 
regard  the  downfall  of  Ripperda  with  any  sympathy, 
but  the  intrigues  of  the  spiritual  guides  of  the  court 
were  now  so  tiagrant  and  so  much  discussed  in  Europe 
that  Philip  was  angry.  When,  shortly  afterwards, 
Father  Bermudez  offended  the  Queen  by  stealthily 
communicating  to  the  King  letters  from  France,  to  be 
concealed  from  her,  and  was  found  to  be  intriguing  like 
his  predecessors,  he  was  dismissed  from  office.  It  was 
related  in  the  court  that  Bermudez  offered  to  swear  on 
the  crucifix  that  he  was  innocent,  and  that  Philip 
answered  :  "I  have  too  much  respect  for  the  image  of 
Christ  to  suffer  you  to  perjure  yourself  thus."  Bermudez 
was  dismissed,  and  an  Irish  Jesuit,  Father  Clarke, 
was  made  royal  confessor  for  the  remainder  of  the 
melancholy  reign  of  Philip  v. 

The  accession  of  his  son,  Ferdinand  vi.,  in  1746 
brought  little  relief  to  the  country  and  no  change  in  the 
power  of  the  Jesuits.  Ferdinand,  a  weak  and  virtuous 
monarch,  of  the  type  which  proved  so  congenial  to  the 
Jesuits,  was  devoted  to  the  Society.  His  confessor, 
Father  Rabago,  was  his  chief  adviser,  and  courtiers 
gathered  thickly  about  the  Jesuit  in  the  hope  of  winning 
his  influence.  His  position  and  power,  and  the  feeble- 
ness of  the  monarch,  made  him  bolder,  and  a  few  years 
later  he  ventured  upon  an  action  which  was  to  have 
disastrous  consequences  for  his  Society.  In  spite  of  all 
the  efforts  of  the  Jesuits  Spain  agreed  to  cede  a  part 
of  Paraguay  containing  seven  of  the  Jesuit  reductions  to 
Portugal,  in  exchange  for  Sacramento.     I  have  already 


EXPULSION  FROM   PORTUGAL  AND  SPAIN      273 

mentioned  this  incident  in  speaking  of  Portugal,  and 
will  narrate  in  a  later  chapter  what  happened  in 
Paraguay.  Briefly,  an  army  of  15,000  Indians  from  the 
reductions — not  merely  the  seven  reductions  in  question, 
which  would  not  aflbrd  more  than  a  few  hundred 
soldiers,  but  evidently  the  full  force  of  the  Jesuit  troops 
drafted  from  the  whole  of  their  scattered  reductions — 
drew  up  in  the  path  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
troops,  and  it  was  only  after  many  battles,  and  at  the 
end  of  three  years,  that  the  agreement  between  the  two 
ofovernments  could  be  carried  out. 

The  Marquis  de  Pombal,  who  was  then  in  power  at 
Lisbon,  at  once  claimed  that  the  Jesuits  had  inspired 
this  treasonable  resistance.  It  would  be  difficult  for  any 
impartial  person  to  imagine  that  this  army  had  been 
mobilised  from  the  whole  area  of  Jesuit  influence  and 
maintained  for  so  long  a  period  against  the  will  of  the 
Jesuit  fathers,  who  so  completely  dominated  the  Indians 
and  were  accustomed  to  lead  them  to  battle.  Ferdinand 
hesitated,  but  at  last  Pombal  intercepted  a  secret  letter 
from  Father  Rabago  to  the  Spanish  fathers,  in  which  he 
urged  them  to  resist.  The  English  ambassador,  Sir 
Benjamin  Keene  (quoted  by  Coxe  in  his  Meinoij^s  of  the 
Kings  of  Spain),  tells  us  that  this  letter  and  other  proofs 
were  put  before  Ferdinand,  and  the  King  expressed 
great  indignation  with  the  Jesuits  in  his  presence. 
Coxe  himself,  who  is  often  quoted  by  the  Jesuits  as  an 
impartial  authority,  says  that  the  letter  was  "  un- 
doubtedly "  genuine.  Rabago  was,  he  says,  ignorant 
at  first  of  foreign  aff"airs,  and  ruled  by  a  junta  of  his 
colleagues  in  his  direction  of  the  King,  but  he  became 
ambitious  and  intrigued  against  the  power  of  the  leading 
statesmen  Carvajal  and  Ensenada.  The  letters  inter- 
cepted in  1754  opened  the  King's  eyes,  and  when,  in 
the  following  year,  the  confessor  was  detected  in  his 
18 


274  THE  JESUITS 

intrigues  against  Enseiiada,  he  was  peremptorily  dis- 
missed from  office. 

Ferdinand  continued  to  trust  the  other  Jesuits  and 
resist  the  pressure  of  Pombal,  but  he  died  in  1759,  and 
an  abler  ruler,  Charles  in.,  came  to  the  throne,  Charles 
was  a  devout  Catholic  and  was  devoted  to  the  Society. 
He  was,  like  his  predecessor,  deaf  to  the  warnings  and 
entreaties  of  Pombal,  and  the  ruthless  expulsion  of  the 
Jesuits  from  Portugal  (in  1759)  only  increased  his 
benevolence  toward  them  in  Spain.  All  their  errors 
were  forgotten,  and  Pombal's  charges  against  their 
conduct  in  the  colonies  were  warmly  rejected.  Few 
could  have  anticipated  that,  under  such  a  ruler,  in 
less  than  ten  years  from  his  accession,  the  gorgeous 
structure  of  Jesuit  prosperity  in  Spain  would  be 
thrown  to  the  ground  and  the  fathers  ignominiously 
expelled. 

The  first  action  of  the  Jesuits  to  modify  the  feeling 
of  the  King  toward  them  was  their  opposition  to  the 
canonisation  of  Bishop  Palafox.  Charles  keenly  desired 
that  the  highest  honours  of  the  Church  should  be  paid 
to  this  saintly  Spanish  bishop  of  the  previous  century, 
but,  as  we  shall  see  later,  Palafox  had  submitted  to 
Pope  Innocent  x.  a  very  grave  indictment  of  the 
conduct  of  the  Jesuits  and,  if  he  had  been  canonised, 
his  letters  "  would  have  brouo-ht  disp"race  on  the 
Society,"  as  the  Jesuit  historian  Cordara  says.  Cordara 
admits  that  the  means  they  adopted  to  prevent  canon- 
isation were  not  approvable  ;  they  were,  in  fact,  chiefly 
bribery  and  an  unscrupulous  vilification  of  the  bishop. 
The  process  did  not  get  beyond  the  stage  of  declaring 
the  bishop  "  Venerable,"  and  Charles  was  displeased 
with  the  Jesuits. 

In  1766  a  less  clear,  but  much  more  serious, 
grievance  arose.     An  attempt  to  shorten  the  long  cloaks 


EXPULSION  FROM  PORTUGAL  AND  SPAIN      275 

and  broad-brimmed  sombreros  of  the  Spanish  people, 
which  favoured  assassins,  led  in  the  spring  of  1766  to  a 
revolt  at  Madrid.  Charles  was  a  stern  maintainer  of 
royal  authority,  and  the  outbreak  greatly  angered  him. 
His  chief  minister  Aranda,  a  scholar  and  politician  of 
the  liberal  school,  who  was  in  sympathy  with  Choiseul 
and  Pombal  and  opposed  to  the  Jesuits,  now  succeeded 
in  persuading  the  King  that  the  Jesuits  had  inspired 
the  revolt.  According  to  the  official  "historian"  of 
the  Society,  the  only  ground  for  this  was  that  the 
Jesuits  had  flung  themselves  bravely  upon  the  angry 
mob  and  disarmed  it ;  which  aroused  an  improper 
suspicion  of  their  power.  The  historian  is  careful  not 
to  relate  that  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  a  lawyer  named 
Navarro  was  arrested  for  brino-inof  a  false  charae  against 
certain  monks  (whom  the  Jesuits  disliked)  in  connection 
with  the  riot,  and  that,  when  the  case  turned  against 
him,  he  declared  that  the  Jesuits  had  prompted  him  to 
do  this  in  order  to  avert  suspicion  from  their  own 
conduct.  Charles  was  convinced  that  they  were  the 
authors  of  the  riot,  and  he  was  now  prepared  to  listen 
to  the  charges  of  Pombal  and  Choiseul. 

It  was  then  submitted  to  the  King  that  the  Jesuits 
were  conspiring  to  replace  him  on  the  throne  by  his 
brother  Louis.  One  of  our  best  authorities,  Coxe, 
declares  that  a  forged  letter  in  this  sense,  purporting 
to  come  from  General  Ricci  to  the  heads  of  the  Spanish 
Jesuits,  was  used  amongst  the  evidence.  However  that 
may  be,  the  King  was  convinced,  a  searching  inquiry 
was  made  into  the  condition  and  activity  of  the  Society, 
and  the  Kino;  entrusted  to  the  willino-  hands  of  Aranda 
the  task  of  destroying  it.  Aranda  realised  that  secrecy 
was  essential  to  success,  and  he  and  a  few  confidential 
colleagues  stealthily  drew  up  the  indictment  of  the 
Society.     Such  precautions    had  to  be  taken  to  outwit 


276  THE  JESUITS 

the  Jesuit  spies  that  the  minister  would  take  pen  and 
ink  in  his  pocket,  in  order  that  it  should  not  be  known 
that  the  King  was  signing  a  document.  By  the 
beginning  of  1767  it  was  decided  to  banish  the  Jesuits 
from  the  Spanish  dominions,  and  Aranda  set  to  work  to 
arrange  the  expulsion  without  giving  the  Jesuits  an 
opportunity  to  provoke  a  rising  in  their  favour.  Sealed 
orders  were  sent  to  the  local  officials  all  over  the  empire, 
and  it  was  strictly  enjoined  under  pain  of  death  that 
they  were  not  to  be  opened  until  the  evening  of 
2nd  April. ^ 

By  the  end  of  March  the  Jesuits  must  have  been 
aware  that  some  grave  step  against  them  was  meditated, 
but  the  secret  was  well  kept  and  the  plan  carried  out 
to  the  letter.  Some  time  after  midnight  on  2nd  April 
the  troops  silently  gathered  round  the  six  Jesuit  colleges 
at  Madrid  and  all  the  other  houses  and  residences  of 
the  Society.  The  sentence  was  carried  out  simultan- 
eously, with  perfect  order.  The  astounded  Jesuits 
awoke  to  find  a  soldier  and  official  in  every  cell,  and 
they  were  ordered  to  dress  and  proceed  to  the  refectory. 
There  the  royal  decree  of  banishment  was  read  to  the 
assembled  community,  and  they  were  promptly  con- 
ducted by  the  troops,  with  such  small  personal  posses- 
sions as  their  breviaries  and  their  tobacco,  to  the 
appointed  port.  They  were  put  in  separate  carriages, 
and  carefully  secluded  from  each  other  and  the  people 
until  they  were  aboard  ship.  It  seems  that  Aranda's 
precautions  were  excessive.  The  Jesuits  complain 
rather  of  the  harshness  of  the  soldiers  than  attempt  to 
discover  any  sympathy  to  which  they  might  appeal. 
Sympathy  and  anger  there  were,  of  course,  as  well  as 
delirious  rejoicing,  when  the  fall  of  the  Society  became 

*  Coxe  puts  the  expulsion  on  the  morning  of  ist  April,  and  the  signing  of 
the  decree  on  2nd  April.    This  seems  to  be  an  error. 


EXPULSION  FROM   PORTUGAL  AND  SPAIN      277 

known.  But  before  the  country  had  fully  realised  that 
the  proud  Society  had  been  doomed  to  exile  by  a 
Spanish  king,  the  6000  Jesuits  of  Spain  and  its  colonies 
were  mournfully  crossing  the  Mediterranean,  in  over- 
crowded vessels,  toward  the  coast  of  the  papal  states. 
A  pension  was  allotted  to  each  out  of  their  confiscated 
property,  but  they  were  informed  that  the  pensions  of 
all  would  cease  if  one  of  their  number  ventured  to  assail 
Spain  and  defend  the  Society  ;  this  was  not  an  unjust 
measure  in  view  of  the  fact  that  no  Jesuit  could  publish 
without  authority. 

Another  very  painful  experience  awaited  the  fathers 
at  the   Italian  shore.     Charles  sent   word   to  the  Pope 
that  he  had  found  it  necessary  to  banish  the  Jesuits,  and 
he  was  committing  them  to  the  Pope's  "  wise  and  holy 
direction."     The    letter    is   not  as   disrespectful  as   this 
may  suggest,  but  Clement  xiii.   was  so  angry  that   he 
took  an  unpardonable  step.      It  will  be  remembered  that 
Pombal  had  previously  unloaded  his  ships  on  the  papal 
shores,  and  the  suppression  in  France  had  driven  large 
numbers  to   Italy.     We   may  assume   that    the  aim  of 
Pombal,  Choiseul,  and  Aranda  was  to  dispose  the  Pope 
to  receive  their  demand  for  the  abolition  of  the  Society. 
Clement  was  so  angry  that  he  refused    to  receive   the 
wretched  exiles.     The  case  is  not,  as  is  sometimes  said, 
that  he  forgot  to  send,  or  refrained  from  sending,  orders 
to  receive  the  Jesuits.     When  the  first  vessel,  bearing 
600  dejected  priests,  made  for  the  port  of  Civita  Vecchia, 
it  was  warned  off  by  the  roar  of  papal  cannon,  and  for 
some  weeks  the  miserable  men  tossed  on  the  waves  of 
the   Mediterranean   in   sight   of   the    inhospitable   papal 
states.      In  the  end  they  were  dispatched  to  Corsica,  to 
enjoy    their   slender  pensions.     Some  apostatised,   and 
some  crept   back   in  disguise   to  their  native  land,  and 
were    hunted    as    traitors  ;  but   in    six    years    their    last 


278  THE  JESUITS 

hopes  were  extinguished   by  the  papal  abolition  of  the 
Society. 

The  verdict  of  the  historian  on  this  romantic  fall  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  in  the  two  countries  which  seemed 
especially  adapted    for   its  operations    must   always  be 
coloured   by   his   creed.      Protestant    historians   have  at 
times  commented  on  the  harsh  execution  of  the  sentence 
and  the  character  of  some  of  the  evidence  on  which  it 
was  obtained,  but  none  questions  the  justice  of  the  ex- 
pulsion.      On    the   other   hand,   although    the    Catholic 
Church  was,  to  say   the  least,  equally   divided  on   the 
matter  at  the  time,  no  modern  Catholic  historian  would 
admit  the  justice  of  the  sentence.      I  do  not  propose  to 
consider  this  in  detail  until  we  come  to  the  abolition  of 
the    Society    by    the    Pope.      Indeed,   we    cannot   quite 
appreciate  the  whole  case  of  the  Spaniards  and  Portu- 
guese  Catholics  against   the   Jesuits  until  we  have  ex- 
amined their  conduct  in  the  colonies.     When  we  have 
covered  the  whole  ground  we  shall  be  in  a  position  to 
weigh  the  stern  and  lengthy  indictment  which  Clement 
XIV. — who  is  wilfully  misrepresented  by  Catholic  writers 
— passes    on    the    Society    in    pronouncing    the    solemn 
sentence  of  death.     For  the  moment  I   need  only  say 
that,  apart  from  their  great  irregularities  in  the  colonies, 
the  Jesuits  were  hated   in   Spain  and   Portugal  on  the 
ground    that,    in   spite    of  their   high    professions,   they 
sought  and  accumulated  wealth,  indulged  in  commerce, 
lent    themselves    to    political    intrigue,    wronged    other 
spiritual  bodies,  were  lax  in  moral  principles,  and  drained 
the  resources  of  the  decaying  country  without  rendering 
it  any  proportionate  service.     This  record  of  their  deeds 
must  suffice  to  enable  the  reader  to  say  if  the  indictment 
and  sentence  were  just. 


C  H AFTER   XI 

THE  FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

Nowhere,  perhaps,  Is  the  conflict  of  evidence  so  sharp 
in  regard  to  the  Jesuits  as  when  we  turn  to  consider 
their  activity  outside  of  Europe.  On  the  one  hand  we 
have  the  Edifying  Letters  which  the  missionaries 
themselves  sent  to  their  Roman  authorities  for  pubHc- 
ation  in  Europe.  From  these  letters  the  apologetic 
writers  construct  a  picture  of  the  most  charming 
devotion  and  spiritual  success ;  we  are  invited  to  see 
thousands  of  Jesuits  breaking  every  home-tie  in  order 
to  carry  the  gospel  of  Christ  across  seas  infested  with 
Dutch  and  English  enemies,  to  lands  whence  only  one 
in  a  hundred  will  return,  and  where  the  tooth  of  the 
serpent,  the  poison  of  the  tropics,  or  the  knife  of  the 
savage  awaits  them ;  we  are  told  how  they  advance 
unarmed  into  the  forests,  and  fierce  tribes  surrender  to 
the  feeble  symbol  of  the  crucifix,  how  they  charm  the 
jealous  monarchs  of  the  east  with  their  vast  learning 
and  open  to  other  missionaries  doors  which  had  been 
closed  against  them  for  centuries,  how  from  the  rawest 
savage  material  they  make  ideal  republics  such  as  Flato 
had  despaired  of  making  out  of  the  enlightened 
Athenians. 

From  the  other  side  we  learn  that  these  Edifying 
Letters,  which  so  plainly  announce  their  purpose,  are 
"  pious  lies"  ;  that  they  wilfully  exaggerate  conversions 

and  martyrdoms,  and  convey  a  wholly  false  picture  of 

279 


28o  THE  JESUITS 

Jesuit  activity  ;  that  the  Jesuits  are  engaged  in  a  vast 
commercial  activity  all  over  the  globe,  are  utterly  un- 
scrupulous in  protecting  their  monopolies  and  in  accumu- 
lating wealth,  and  make  the  most  scandalous  concessions 
to  paganism  in  order  to  obtain  numbers  and  influence. 
These  things,  moreover,  are  said  by  Catholic  priests 
and  prelates,  not  by  jealous  merchants  and  free-thinking 
politicians.  Prelates  of  indisputable  sanctity  send  to 
Europe  the  sternest  and  gravest  charges  against  the 
Jesuits,  and  declare  that  they  have  been  subjected  by 
the  Society  to  the  most  virulent  and  unprincipled 
persecution.  We  have  therefore  to  make  our  way  here 
with  extreme  prudence.  Fortunately,  many  of  the 
charges  against  the  Jesuits  receive  serious  consideration 
at  Rome,  and  from  the  evidence  which  is  submitted  to, 
and  generally  endorsed  by,  the  Roman  tribunals,  the 
historian  is  at  times  enabled  to  reach  a  confident  verdict. 
Let  us  begin  our  survey  with  the  action  of  the  Jesuits 
in  the  far  east. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  period  we  are  considering 
Japan  is  closed  against  the  Christian  missionaries,  and 
all  the  blood  that  has  been  shed  on  its  soil  proves  sterile. 
We  saw  that  the  emperors  had  at  length  determined 
to  extirpate  the  new  religion,  and  a  final  revolt  of  the 
surviving  Christians  in  1638  led  to  the  completing  of 
the  work  of  destruction.  One  or  two  Jesuits  afterwards 
penetrated  the  country,  in  the  disguise  of  merchants, 
but  they  were  arrested  or  forced  to  leave.  The  artful 
Japanese  devised  a  test  of  faith  which  should  have 
defeated  the  zeal  of  the  missionary  ;  every  European 
immigrant  had  to  spit  or  trample  on  the  crucifix  before 
landing.  It  is  said  by  a  serious  authority,  one  of  the 
General  Commandants  of  the  French  East  India 
Company  (Martin,  of  Pondicherry),  that  the  Jesuits 
found  a  casuistic  way  out  of  this  difficulty  and  insulted 


THE  FOREIGN   MISSIONS  281 

the  crucifix ;  they  were,  they  said,  merely  regarding  it 
as  a  piece  of  wood  and  metal.  However  that  may  be, 
the  last  Jesuit — an  apostate  who  repented — was  executed 
there  in  1652,  and  the  fathers  of  the  "Japanese  Pro- 
vince "  were  scattered  over  the  other  eastern  missions. 

China    had,     in     the     meantime,     become     a    most 
attractive  field  of  labour.      It  will  be  remembered  that 
the  Jesuit  Ricci  had  at    last  found  a  way  to  penetrate 
the    Chinese  defences ;    he  had  concealed    his    religion, 
dressed  as  a  Chinese  scholar,  and  won  great  prestige  as 
a    mathematician    and   astronomer.      He   had    obtained 
great    influence   at    the    court,    and   other   Jesuits   had 
followed  his  example.     Their  services  to  the  court  were 
rewarded  with  permission    to  preach  their  doctrines  in 
the  provinces,  but  this  work  was  often  checked  by  local 
persecution,  and  the  Jesuits  directed  their  chief  efforts 
to    the   court  'and    the    educated   class.     The    tradition 
started  by  Ricci  was  maintained  and  developed,  and  a 
very  strange  group  of  missionaries  gathered  about  the 
emperor.     Chief    amongst    them    was     Father    Adam 
Schall,  a  very  able  mathematician    and  intimate  friend 
of   the    emperor.      He    could    cast    horoscopes,    found 
cannon,  admire  the  works  of  Kung-fu-tse,  and  behave  in 
every    way    as    a    Chinese   gentleman.      He    found    a 
substantial  agreement  between  educated  Chinese  religion 
and  Christianity — especially  by  keeping  the  crucifix  out 
of    sight  ■ —  and    genially    sanctioned     the    worship    of 
"  Heaven,"    the    veneration    of    Kung-fu-tse,    and    the 
cult  of  ancestors.     The   educated    Chinaman   is,  as  we 
know   to-day,  an  Agnostic,  and  he  concluded  that  the 
Jesuit    was   an    almost    equally    liberal    Interpreter    of 
popular    superstitions.      He    therefore    welcomed    these 
western    gentlemen    who    could    read    the    stars,    make 
fancy   clocks,  found    cannon,    direct   armies,    and   paint 
pictures  better  than  the  native  scholar. 


282  THE  JESUITS 

The  Jesuits  had  previously  helped  the  Chinese  to 
repel  the  Tartars,  but  a  more  formidable  invasion 
occurred  in  1636,  and,  to  be  quite  safe,  they  divided 
their  forces.  Schall  joined  the  Tartars  at  Peking  and 
read  in  the  stars  that  they  would  conquer ;  some  of 
his  colleagues  remained  with  the  threatened  dynasty, 
declared  that  the  stars  were  in  their  favour,  and  induced 
some  members  of  the  royal  family  to  accept  baptism. 
The  Tartars  won,  the  opposing  Jesuits  were  recalled, 
and  Schall  passed  into  the  confidence  of  the  new 
emperor.  He  became  a  mandarin  of  the  first  class 
and  president  of  the  tribunal  of  imperial  mathematics. 
He  dressed  in  gorgeous  silks,  and  his  palanquin,  borne 
by  twelve  servants,  was  attended  by  a  strong  body- 
guard with  the  usual  Chinese  symbols ;  also — if  we 
believe  the  missionary  Sala,  as  seems  reasonable — his 
beautiful  palace  contained  two  charming  Chinese  ladies 
and,  in  the  course  of  time,  two  children.  But  the 
emperor  died  ten  years  later,  a  persecution  was  initiated, 
and  Father  Schall  died  lamentably  in  prison  in  1666, 
All  the  Jesuits — nineteen  in  number — were  imprisoned, 
and  their  151  churches  were  closed  or  destroyed. 

In  1669  the  young  Emperor  Kang  Hi,  son  of  the 
Tartar  conqueror,  attained  his  majority  and  released 
the  Jesuits,  Father  Verbiest  took  the  place  of  Father 
Schall,  and  as  his  military  services  enabled  the  emperor 
to  quell  an  insurrection,  he  obtained  permission  to 
summon  fresh  "  mathematicians "  from  the  west. 
France  was  now  the  great  expanding  Power  in 
Europe,  and  the  new  field,  with  its  prospect  of  a 
monopoly  of  commerce,  was  secured  for  Louis  xiv. 
Six  learned  French  Jesuits  arrived  in  1688,  and  from 
that  time  until  the  end  of  the  century  they  grew 
in  power  and  wealth.  As  artists,  astrologers,  or 
mechanicians  the  priests  made  themselves  indispensable 


THE  FOREIGN   MISSIONS  283 

at  court,  and  the  lay-brothers  brought  western  skill  in 
medicine  and  surgery.  One  of  them  received  200,000 
francs'  worth  of  gold  for  curing  the  emperor.  They 
also  imported  clocks,  wine,  and  other  western  products, 
and,  from  merely  approving,  they  passed  on  to  an 
active  share  in  the  great  Chinese  industry  of  lending 
money  at  a  profit,  which  was  then  sternly  condemned 
by  their  Church.  The  rival  Catholic  missionaries 
reported  that  the  three  Jesuit  houses  at  Peking  made 
80,000  francs  a  year  by  usury  ;  though  the  Jesuits 
protested  that  they  did  not  charge  more  than  twenty- 
four  per  cent.  Father  Gerbillon  was  now  head  of  the 
mathematical  tribunal  and  diplomatic  agent  on  Russian 
affairs.  Father  Martini  was  the  military  expert,  and, 
as  a  mandarin  of  the  first  order,  exhibited  a  dragon  on 
his  fine  silk  robe. 

There  was  one  very  serious  thorn  in  the  side  of  these 
prosperous  Jesuits.  Dominican,  Franciscan,  and  other 
missionaries  had  followed  them  into  the  country,  and 
were  expressing  the  most  cordial  abhorrence  of  their 
procedure.  Their  arrogance,  their  unpriestly  occupa- 
tions, and  their  commerce  and  usury  were  bad  enough, 
but  they  were  not  even  preaching  the  Gospel.  They 
suppressed  the  doctrine  of  the  Redemption,  did  not 
anoint  dying  women  (out  of  concession  to  Chinese 
delicacy),  and  permitted  their  converts  to  join  in  the 
rites  of  the  old  Chinese  religion.  The  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans  disturbed  their  profitable  policy  by  thrusting 
the  crucifix  before  the  eyes  of  the  amazed  Chinese,  and 
there  were  fierce  wrangles.  The  friars  appealed  to 
Rome,  and  in  1645  the  Propaganda  condemned  the 
Jesuit  concessions.  The  Jesuits  ignored  the  condemna- 
tion, on  the  ground  that  it  was  issued  on  false  informa- 
tion, and  sent  Mandarin  Martini  to  Rome.  Martini 
unblushingly  asserted  that  the  rites  they  permitted  were 


284  THE  JESUITS 

purely  civil  in  character,  and  he  was  able  to  return  with 
an  authorisation  of  their  practices.  But  the  Dominicans 
sent  a  fresh  envoy  to  Rome,  and,  in  the  meantime,  the 
terrible  Jansenist  Arnauld  had  learned  the  facts  and  was 
holding  up  the  Jesuits  to  the  ridicule  of  Europe. 

All  the  machinery  of  intrigue  at  Rome  was  now  in 
motion,  and  in  1684  three  bishops  who  belonged  to  the 
rival  French  Congregation  of  Foreign  Missions  were 
sent  out  to  make  an  investigation.  When  the  Jesuits 
found  it  impossible  to  persuade  these  commissioners  that 
the  early  Chinese  had  received  a  knowledge  of  the  true 
God  from  the  children  of  Noah,  that  the  cult  of  ancestors 
was  equivalent  to  the  services  in  honour  of  the  souls  in 
purgatory,  and  so  on,  they  used  their  court-influence 
ruthlessly  against  them  and  the  missionaries.  In  the 
course  of  time,  however,  an  adverse  report  reached 
Rome,  and  a  serious  inquiry  opened.  The  ten  Jesuits 
at  the  Chinese  court  wrote  to  say  that  the  emperor 
himself  endorsed  their  interpretation  of  the  Chinese 
doctrines  and  rites,  but,  although  the  new  Pope,  Clement 
XI.,  was  favourable  to  the  Society,  and  Pere  la  Chaise 
threw  the  influence  of  France  into  the  scale,  the  testi- 
mony of  the  other  missionaries  was  too  plain  to  be 
ignored.  An  experienced  missionary  and  able  young 
prelate,  Mgr.  (later  Cardinal)  de  Tournon,  was  sent  out 
in  1703  to  examine  the  Jesuit  practices  in  India  and 
China. 

The  adventurous  voyage  of  Mgr.  de  Tournon, 
Patriarch  of  Antioch,  would  fill  an  interesting  volume. 
We  shall  see  presently  what  the  practices  of  the  Jesuits 
were  in  India,  and  will  not  be  surprised  that  he  promptly 
condemned  them.  From  that  moment  until  he  died 
heart-broken,  six  years  afterwards,  in  a  Christian  jail, 
he  was  thwarted  and  tormented  by  the  intrigues  of  the 
Jesuits.      He  reached  Canton  in  the  spring  of  1705,  and 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  285 

was  informed  that  the  emperor  refused  to  see  him. 
The  position  of  the  Jesuits  at  court  was  such  that  not 
even  a  child  could  fail  to  recognise  their  direction  in 
this  decision,  and  a  great  scandal  was  caused.  It  was 
twelve  months  before  the  legate  was  permitted  to  pay 
the  Pope's  respects  to  the  emperor,  and,  as  he  politely 
insisted  that  the  Jesuits  were  falsely  representing  the 
Church,  he  was  driven  from  the  country  and  committed 
to  the  care  of  the  Portuguese  authorities,  who  were 
controlled  by  the  Jesuits.  When  he  reached  Macao, 
this  papal  legate  found  that  the  Viceroy  of  India,  the 
Archbishop  of  Goa,  and  the  Bishop  of  Macao  forbade 
him  to  exercise  his  powers  in  any  country  under  the 
Portuguese  flag.  When  he  justly  replied  by  excom- 
municating the  Bishop  and  Captain-General  of  Macao 
— and  the  Pope  recognised  the  integrity  of  his  conduct 
by  making  him  cardinal  in  that  year  (1707) — the 
Portuguese  authorities  imprisoned  him,  He  died  in 
prison  three  years  afterwards,  at  the  early  age  of  forty- 
two.  The  only  priests  in  the  east  whom  he  had  felt 
compelled  to  censure  were  the  Jesuits,  and  the  letters 
of  de  Tournon  himself  and  of  the  priests  of  his  suite 
(one  of  whom  was  imprisoned  in  a  Jesuit  house)  em- 
phatically attribute  all  the  outrages  they  suffered  to  the 
Jesuits,  who  intercepted  their  correspondence  in  order 
to  conceal  the  facts  from  the  Papacy.  It  is  even  stated 
by  some  of  these  priests  that  the  stubborn  cardinal  was 
eventually  removed  by  poison. 

Since  we  know  that  the  Jesuits  had  paramount  in- 
fluence at  Peking,  Macao,  and  Goa,  and  could  easily 
have  secured  a  proper  treatment  of  the  Pope's  repre- 
sentative, we  are  compelled  to  believe  these  witnesses. 
Cr^tineau-Joly's  statement,  that  "they  did  not  dare  to 
intervene  between  the  emperor  and  the  legate,"  is 
little   less   than    frivolous.       They    directed    the    whole 


286  THE  JESUITS 

proceedings — as  usual,  through  others.  De  Tournon's 
assurance  that,  when  a  priest  was  tortured  to  give 
evidence  against  him  at  Peking,  there  were  two  Jesuits 
Hstening  behind  a  curtain,  is  quite  in  harmony  with 
their  ways ;  about  the  same  time  in  Paraguay,  when 
a  bishop  was  violently  assaulted  by  the  armed  pupils 
of  the  Society,  there  were  two  Jesuits  concealed  in  the 
trees  directing  them.  We  shall  see  that  every  prelate, 
in  any  part  of  the  world,  who  sets  out  to  expose  the 
misdeeds  of  the  Jesuits,  experiences  the  same  outrages 
as  did  the  unfortunate  Cardinal  de  Tournon. 

The  Jesuits  both  of  India  and  China  ignored  the 
commands  of  the  Pope's  solemn  representative,  and 
clung  to  their  lucrative  missions.  In  1706  they  per- 
suaded the  emperor  to  forbid  any  missionary  to  attack 
Chinese  rites,  and,  as  the  fierce  controversy  continued 
and  the  banishment  of  the  more  active  prelates  proved 
fruitless,  they  obtained  an  edict  expelling  all  missionaries 
who  followed  the  instructions  of  the  late  leo^ate.  The 
scandal  was,  however,  now  known  throughout  Christen- 
dom, and  on  25th  September  17 10  Clement  xi. 
solemnly  condemned  their  practices.  Again  they 
quibbled,  observing  that  some  of  their  practices  were 
not  specifically  condemned,  and  a  new  papal  bull  (£x 
ilia  die)  was  issued  on  19th  March  17 15,  enacting  that 
all  missionaries  must  take  oath  to  abandon  the  forbidden 
practices.  The  emperor  denounced  the  bull,  and 
imprisoned  the  prelate  who  communicated  it  to  the 
Jesuits,  and  a  third  representative  was  sent  to  China 
by  the  Vatican.  In  spite  of  certain  concessions  (after- 
wards condemned  by  the  Papacy),  Mgr.  Mezzabarba 
had  little  more  success  than  his  predecessors,  and  the 
Jesuits  continued  to  maintain  their  compromises  and 
tempt  the  Papacy  with  glowing  promises  of  success. 
There  were,  they  said,  nine  members  of  the  royal  family 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  287 

and  hundreds  of  influential  Chinamen  ready  to  embrace 
Christianity  as  they  expounded  it.  Innocent  xiii,,  now 
fully  informed  by  Mezzabarba,  severely  condemned 
them  (1723),  and  we  know  from  a  private  letter  of  the 
Jesuit  historian  Cordara  that  he  was  preparing  an 
"atrocious  decree"  against  the  Society  when  he  died 
in   1724. 

As  the  immediate  successors  of  Innocent  xiii.  were 
open  to  Jesuit  influence,  they  were  enabled  to 
maintain  their  position  and  practices  on  the  Asiatic 
missions  until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
In  other  words,  these  religious  who  were  especially 
bound  to  obey  the  Pope,  defied  the  Papacy  for  nearly 
one  hundred  years  (since  the  first  condemnation),  and 
committed  every  outrage  against  its  representatives. 
In  the  meantime  their  great  patron  Kang  Hi  died 
(1722),  and  the  exasperated  Chinese  began  to  destroy 
the  conflicting  missions.  There  were  then,  it  is  said, 
several  hundred  thousand  Christians  in  China,  though 
the  sequel  will  show  that  these  were  almost  entirely 
of  the  poorer  classes,  won  by  material  services  and 
ready  to  return  to  Taoism  at  the  slightest  pressure. 
The  new  emperor  proscribed  Christianity,  and  banished 
all  the  missionaries  except  the  more  learned  of  the 
Jesuits.  A  letter  written  by  one  of  these  Jesuits  gives 
an  account  of  their  situation.  As  engineers,  astronomers, 
and  diplomatists  they  were  still  sheltered  and  rewarded 
by  the  Chinese  court — he  adds  that  they  remained 
partly  in  the  interest  of  French  (and  their  own)  com- 
merce— but  the  educated  Chinese  disdained  their 
religion,  and  they  were  reduced  to  a  furtive  ministra- 
tion to  the  rapidly  shrinking  body  of  poor  converts. 

This  situation  lasted  until  1743,  when  Benedict  xiv. 
at  last  vindicated  the  dignity  of  the  Papacy  and  issued 
his  famous  bull  Ex  qtio  singulari.     A  second  and  more 


288  THE  JESUITS 

drastic  bull,  sternly  condemning  their  contumacy,  ap- 
peared in  1744,  and  they  were  now  forced  to  submit 
without  reserve.  From  that  time  the  Chinese  mission 
melted  away.  As  far  as  the  Jesuits  were  concerned,  it 
had  never  had  any  religious  solidity.  A  few  Jesuits 
who  attempted  to  sustain  the  converts  in  the  provinces 
were  put  to  death,  and  the  court  Jesuits  were  restricted 
to  their  hydraulic  engineering,  surgery,  philology,  and 
astrology.  They  lingered  for  a  generation  at  Peking,  the 
strangest  figures  in  the  whole  clerical  universe,  but  the 
Chinese  showed  no  sign  of  relenting,  and  they  died,  one 
by  one,  in  their  singular  employments.  Their  death 
closed  the  stirring  but  sterile  episode  of  the  first  attempt 
to  Christianise  China. 

Before  we  turn  to  India,  the  next  important  centre 
of  Christianity  in  the  far  east,  we  must  glance  at  their 
fortunes  in  subsidiary  missions.  Their  letters  tell  how 
they  entered  the  Philippine  Islands  in  1665,  and  had  a 
miraculous  success  among  the  very  lowly,  but  generally 
peaceful,  natives  ;  one  Jesuit  is  said  to  have  baptized 
50,000  of  them  (mostly  children,  apparently)  in  four 
years,  and  founded  eight  churches  and  three  colleges. 
One  priest  to  eight  churches,  and  eight  churches  to 
50,000  converts,  give  us  the  true  measure  of  their 
success.  They  were  generally  content  to  pour  the 
baptismal  water  over  the  heads  of  all  who  could  be 
induced  to  accept  it,  by  material  benefits  or  a  confused 
belief  in  its  magical  properties,  and  send  the  inflated 
statistics  to  Europe.  In  spite,  however,  of  wars 
amongst  the  natives  and  occasional  persecution  they 
built  up  a  prosperous  mission.  Its  story  is  tainted  by 
commercial  activity  and  unprincipled  behaviour  towards 
the  rest  of  the  clergy.  We  shall  see  later  that  they 
had  vast  estates  in  California  and  Mexico,  and  from 
these  they  conducted  a  large  and  regular  traffic,  in  their 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  289 

own  ships,  with  Manila.  Archbishop  Pardo,  of  Manila, 
condemned  this  traffic,  and  ordered  them  to  distribute 
the  value  of  their  property  among  the  poor.  He 
suffered  the  customary  fate  of  prelates  who  interfered 
with  the  operations  of  the  Society.  Whether  the 
governor  of  the  Philippines  was  bribed,  or  merely  per- 
suaded by  the  fathers,  we  need  not  attempt  to  deter- 
mine ;  but  his  officers  seized  the  Archbishop  during 
the  night  and  deported  him  to  a  neighbouring  island. 
Thirty  years  previously  Pardo's  predecessor,  Archbishop 
Guerrero,  had  been  treated  with  the  same  outrages. 

In  Cochin  China,  Tong  King,  and  Siam  the  story 
of  the  Jesuits  is  much  the  same  as  in  China,  and  need 
not  be  told  in  detail.  A  Father  de  Rhodes,  a  mission- 
ary of  the  early  and  ardent  type,  penetrates  Cochin 
China  in  1640,  and  in  spite  of  resistance  and  perse- 
cution, makes  40,000  "converts"  and  builds  seventy 
"  churches  "  in  a  few  years.  Modern  missionary  ex- 
perience in  Asia  enables  us  to  test  these  absurd  claims. 
Father  de  Rhodes  was  caught  and  expelled,  and  the  next 
group  of  missionaries  adopted  the  Chinese  policy.  They 
induced  the  King:  to  regard  them,  as  grreat  mathematicians 
and  skilful  engineers,  and  propagated  a  mild  form  of 
Christianity,  as  in  China.  This  led  to  a  similar,  but 
even  more  virulent,  conflict  with  the  non-Jesuit  mission- 
aries. When  the  papal  bull  £x  ilia  die,  condemning 
their  practices,  arrived,  they  airily  remarked  that  it 
came  from  Amsterdam,  not  Rome,  and  ignored  it. 
Very  violent  quarrels  occurred  with  the  French  non- 
Jesuit  priests,  whom  they  denounced  as  "  Jansenists"  ; 
and  these  priests  accused  them  of  the  most  sordid  vice 
and  outrage.  We  shall  see  that  the  charge  of  loose 
living  must  be  admitted ;  but  whether  they  poisoned 
hostile  priests,  and  had  refractory  native  women  stripped 
to  the  waist  and  flogged,  are  questions  which  must  remain 
19 


290  THE  JESUITS 

open.  The  profane  historian  is  naturally  embarrassed 
when  two  groups  of  priests  flatly  accuse  each  other  of 
lying-,  and  one  group  certainly  is  lying. 

At  length  the  Vatican  sent  a  bishop  to  investigate 
the  situation  in  Cochin  China,  and  we  are,  perhaps, 
justified  in  following  the  report  of  this  impartial  Papal 
Leo-ate.  He  found  orreat  moral  as  well  as  theological 
laxity  among  the  Jesuits.  One  father,  in  high  authority, 
had  had  a  concubine  for  twenty  years,  and  took  her 
with  him  when  he  visited  the  sick  ;  and  there  was  much 
drunkenness  and  violence  against  their  opponents.  The 
papal  agents  were  bribed  to  support  them,  and  the  pagan 
officials  were  easily  induced  to  admire  and  sustain  the 
more  genial  ways  of  the  Jesuits.  The  Legate  officially 
forbade  them  to  practise  usury,  to  sell  worthless  drugs 
at  exorbitant  prices  to  the  natives,  to  dress  in  gay 
purple  and  bind  their  flowing  locks  with  coloured 
ribands,  and  so  on.  His  decree  is  a  flash  of  light  on 
Jesuit  practices  among  natives.  One  curious  incident 
in  his  reports  is  worth  noting.  A  Franciscan  monk,  a 
feeble  old  man  of  sixty,  had,  to  please  the  Jesuits, 
established  a  church  in  face  of  that  of  the  French 
missionaries.  The  Legate  ordered  him  to  remove,  and 
the  monk  presently  came  to  say  that  he  was  unable  to 
remove  as  the  Captain  of  the  Guardians  of  the  Royal 
Dogs  (a  young  Jesuit  "mathematician")  had  appointed 
him  a  Guardian  and  sent  him  several  dogs,  because  the 
air  of  his  district  was  good  for  dogs.  In  a  word,  the 
Jesuits  used  their  full  influence  at  court  to  thwart  and 
persecute  the  Legate,  and  he  died  in  distress  shortly 
afterwards. 

Siam  had  received  two  Jesuits  in  1630.  They  came 
as  envoys  of  the  governor  of  the  Philippines,  and  so 
charmed  the  King  that  they  were  invited  to  stay.  When 
Spanish  vessels  followed    them,  the   Siamese  were   in- 


THE  FOREIGN   MISSIONS  291 

dignant ;  but  the  quarrel  was  adjusted,  and  in  1685  six 
learned  "mathematicians"  of  the  great  King  Louis  xiv. 
came,  with  gorgeous  parade  and  an  imposing  military 
escort,  to  the  Siamese  court.  The  Jesuits  were  now 
everywhere  diplomatic  agents  for  the  expansion  of 
French  commerce,  if  not  French  territory,  and  the  work 
in  Siam  was  facilitated  by  a  French  adventurer,  named 
Phaulcon,  who  had  won  the  King's  confidence.  The 
King  asked  for  more  "mathematicians,"  and  fourteen 
Jesuits  eagerly  responded.  But  with  them  (in  1687) 
came  a  French  squadron  and  several  regiments,  who 
proceeded  to  occupy  and  fortify  positions  in  Bangkok 
and  Merguy.  The  King  soon  detected  that  the  learned 
mathematicians  and  the  minister  Phaulcon  and  the 
French  regiments  had  a  close  and  secret  understanding, 
and  this  remarkable  attempt  to  spread  the  gospel  came 
to  a  premature  close.  Phaulcon  lost  his  head,  and  the 
mathematicians  were  banished. 

We  have  seen  in  a  previous  chapter  how  the  Jesuits 
had  applied  their  elastic  principles  to  the  conversion  of 
India,  the  original  and  central  field  of  the  Asiatic 
missions.  After  sending  most  imposing  figures  of 
baptisms  to  Europe  during  a  century,  they  announced, 
we  saw,  that  the  work  had  been  profoundly  unsatisfactory, 
and  some  new  plan  of  reaching  the  educated  Hindus 
must  be  adopted.  So  Father  de  Nobili  had  dressed  as 
a  Hindu  priest  of  the  most  sacred  caste,  had  adopted  all 
the  emblems  and  practices  of  the  caste,  and  had  behaved 
throughout  life  in  such  a  way  that  the  other  members  of 
the  Saniassi  sect  were  unable  to  discover  that  he  was  a 
Christian.  Father  Britto,  Father  Beschi,  and  other 
Jesuits  succeeded  him  in  this  fantastic  role.  Rome  was 
solemnly  assured,  as  it  was  from  China,  that  the  rites 
and  emblems  of  the  Saniassi  (which  are  saturated  with 
Hindu  mythology)  were  "purely  civil"  in  their  nature; 


292  THE  JESUITS 

local  prelates  (who  were  frequently  ex-Jesuits)  and 
Vatican  officials  were  bribed  or  persuaded  to  sanction 
this  fiction  ;  and  for  more  than  a  century  the  Jesuits 
permitted  a  number  of  members  of  the  Society  to  don 
the  sacred  clothes  and  practise  the  rites  of  the  Saniassi. 

The  melodramatic  temper  which  the  Jesuit  spirit 
fostered  in  members  of  the  Society  counted  for  a  good 
deal  in  this  singular  development  of  their  missionary 
enterprise.  Regarded  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
purpose  which  they  held  to  justify  it,  one  must  pronounce 
it  a  failure.  Very  few  high-caste  Hindus  were  converted, 
and  even  these  few  only  accepted  a  quite  emasculated 
version  of  Christianity,  as  a  rule.  Some  of  the  Jesuit- 
Saniassi  did  succeed  in  obtaining  considerable  prestige. 
They  rode  about  on  fine  horses,  and  were  borne  in 
palanquins  while  natives  cooled  them  with  peacock-feather 
fans,  and  greatly  impressed  the  ignorant  natives.  One 
of  them,  Beschi,  so  captivated  a  local  prince  that  he 
became  his  first  minister,  and  rode  about  with  an  escort 
of  thirty  horsemen  and  a  native  band.  These  successes 
among  the  educated  Hindus  were,  however,  only  won 
by  a  concealment  of  the  distinctive  elements  of  the 
Christian  faith  and  an  insinuation  that  the  enlightened 
priests  at  Rome  itself  (as  distinct  from  the  common 
missionaries)  held  the  same  liberal  view  of  the  creed. 

It  was  still  mainly  among  the  poorer  classes  and  the 
pariahs,  whose  poverty  made  them  more  susceptible  to 
missionary  influence,  that  the  converts  were  found.  We 
may  regard  with  suspicion  the  enormous  figures  of 
conversions  effected  by  them  which  individual  Jesuits 
sent  to  Europe, — one  of  the  Apostolic  Vicars  for  India 
bluntly  describes  them  as  "lies,"  —  but  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  the  natives  were  in  some  measure  gathered 
into  the  Christian  fold.  We  are  sometimes  asked  to 
admire    the    levelling    of    caste-barriers  which    this    in- 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  293 

elusion  in  a  common  fold  would  entail,  but  the  Jesuits 
fully  respected  the  caste-barriers.  Some  of  their  number 
are  entitled  to  high  praise  for  becoming  pariahs  among 
the  pariahs, — dressing  in  their  ragged  clothes  and  eating 
their  vile  food, — but  the  high-caste  Jesuit  would  not 
glance  even  at  his  pariah-colleague  if  he  met  him  on  the 
road.  He  would  not  enter  a  pariah's  hut ;  the  dying 
pariah  had  to  be  carried  out  under  a  tree  to  receive  his 
ministration,  and,  if  he  were  too  ill  to  be  removed,  he 
died  without  the  sacraments.  The  pariahs  were  not 
allowed  in  the  church  ;  they  were  herded  in  an  enclosure 
by  the  side  of  it  to  hear  the  Mass,  and  the  sacraments 
were  often  administered  to  them  through  a  window. 

These  were  not  the  only  grievances  which  the  other 
missionaries,  who  could  not  report  their  tens  of  thousands 
of  conversions,  had  against  the  Jesuits.  It  was  equally 
proved  that  they  laid  little  stress  on  the  doctrine  of 
redemption,  as  in  China,  and  made  very  material  con- 
cessions to  paganism.  They  omitted  parts  of  the 
ceremony  of  baptism  which  the  Hindus  disliked  (the 
use  of  saliva  and  the  breathing  on  the  convert)  :  they 
did  not  give  saint-names  to  the  converts,  and  advised 
them  not  to  call  themselves  Christians,  but  (in  a  familiar 
Hindu  phrase)  "followers  of  the  true  God":  they 
married  mere  children,  long  before  the  time  of  puberty, 
and  they  allowed  the  married  girl  to  wear  the  ialy 
according  to  the  pagan  custom  :  ^  they  blessed  and 
distributed  the  ashes  of  cow-dung  which  the  natives 
esteemed  :  they  permitted  their  converts    to  wear,  and 

^  This  taly  is  described  by  the  other  missionaries  as  a  gross  image  repre- 
senting a  Hindu  divinity  equivalent  to  the  Latin  Priapus.  It  was  certainly 
mythological,  and  was  suspended  on  a  cord  of  very  clear  mythological 
import.  The  Jesuits  first  declared  that  it  was  a  "  civil  custom,"  and  then 
said  that  a  "  direction  of  intention  "  on  the  part  of  the  convert  made  it  harm- 
less. When  Rome  brought  pressure  to  bear  on  them,  they  invented  a  taly 
with  the  cross  on  one  side  and  the  emblem  of  Pillear  on  the  other. 


294  THE  JESUITS 

sometimes  wore  themselves,  emblems  of  Vishnu.  It 
seems  that  in  some  places  they  placed  no  cross  over  the 
altar. 

These  extraordinary  concessions — they  are  commonly 
known  as  "  the  Malabar  rites,"  as  the  Jesuits  were  chiefly 
established  in  Malabar — were  fiercely  assailed  by  the 
other  missionaries  and  reported  to  Rome.  In  1703,  as 
we  saw,  Mgr.  de  Tournon  was  sent  to  inquire  into  the 
quarrel,  and  he  condemned  the  more  flagrant  of  the 
Jesuit  practices.  When  the  Legate  passed  on  to  China, 
the  Jesuits  and  the  local  prelates  (either  Jesuits  or  friends 
of  the  Jesuits)  entirely  ignored  his  commands,  and  the 
feud  continued.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
Jesuits  had  now  supreme  influence  at  the  Portuguese  as 
well  as  the  French  court,  and  officials  naturally  bowed  to 
their  wealth  and  power.  For  a  considerable  time  they 
had  received  from  the  King-s  of  Portural  immense 
subsidies  for  their  missionary  work,  and  their  commerce 
and  intentness  on  gifts  and  legacies  had  added  to  this 
wealth.  The  manager  of  the  French  East  India 
Company  at  Pondicherry  tells  us  that  the  Jesuits  in 
India  surpassed  the  English  and  Portuguese  merchants, 
and  only  fell  short  of  the  Dutch,  in  trading  activity.  In 
his  time  there  was  a  debt  of  450,000  livres  on  the  books 
of  his  company  in  the  name  of  a  Jesuit  (Father  Tachard). 
Their  wealth  was  very  great,  and  they  did  not  scruple  to 
use  it  in  the  maintenance  of  their  position  as  well  as  in 
attracting  converts. 

But  the  Malabar  rites,  and  Chinese  rites,  and  Jesuit- 
Brahmans  were  now,  as  we  saw,  a  scourge  in  the  hands 
of  the  Society's  critics  in  Europe,  and  the  Papacy  was 
forced  to  suppress  them.  As  we  have  so  often  realised, 
the  Jesuit  repute  for  broad  sagacity  and  statesmanship, 
as  distinct  from  astuteness  and  capacity  for  intrigue,  is 
without    foundation.     The     Roman    Jesuit    authorities 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  295 

could  have  destroyed  the  system  in  a  year,  yet  they 
sustained  it  for  a  hundred  years,  and,  with  bUnd 
stubbornness,  allowed  an  indelible  stain  to  be  fixed  on 
the  Society,  and  were  responsible  for  the  sudden  collapse 
of  their  missions.  When  Benedict  xiv.  fearlessly  and 
peremptorily  condemned  them,  there  was  a  formidable 
reaction  among  their  converts,  and  the  hundreds  of  con- 
gregations rapidly  disappeared.  Their  apologist  would 
have  us  believe  that  they  submitted  in  1741  (the  year 
before  Benedict's  first  bull),  but  that  "distance  and  the 
difficulty  of  communication  retarded  the  arrival  of  their 
letters  at  Rome."  Isfnorino-  the  foolish  remark  about 
the  difficulty  of  communication,  we  may  observe  that  the 
year  1741  was  seventeen  years  after  their  official  con- 
demnation by  the  Pope's  representative ;  that  Clement 
XII.  had  condemned  them  in  1734  and  1739,  and  they  had 
ignored  his  decrees  ;  and  that,  so  far  from  having  sub- 
mitted in  1 74 1,  Benedict  xiv.  found  them  contumacious 
to  his  bull  of  1742,  and  had  to  issue  another  in  1744. 
They  submitted  in  1745,  and  the  structure  they  had 
raised  by  two  hundred  years  of  devotion  and  dissimula- 
tion rapidly  decayed. 

The  missions  in  other  parts  of  Asia  had  little  success. 
Ceylon  was  invaded  by  two  fathers  in  1616,  but  when 
these  were  executed  in  1627  and  1628  the  mission 
seems  to  have  been  abandoned.  It  is  interesting 
to  find  that  they  even  entered  the  almost  impregnable 
capital  of  Thibet.  Two  of  their  more  devoted  and 
austere  missionaries  crossed  the  vale  of  Cachmire 
and  the  bleak  mountains  on  foot,  and  reached 
Lhasa.  The  expedition  had  no  result,  and  was 
not  repeated.  In  nearer  Asia  also  the  work  was  only 
moderately  successful.  Armed  with  diplomatic  papers 
from  the  French  court,  instead  of  the  crucifix  of  which 
they  sometimes  boast  as  their  only  weapon,  they  entered 


296  THE  JESUITS 

the  dominion  of  the  Turk,  and  wrangled  with  Greeks, 
Nestorians,  Armenians,  and  other  Christians  over  the 
infalHbility  of  the  Pope.  They  founded  residences  at 
Thessalonica,  Smyrna,  Trebezon,  Damascus,  etc.,  and 
pushed  on  to  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates.  In  1682,  two 
Jesuits,  magnificently  equipped  and  loaded  with  presents, 
approached  the  Shah  of  Persia  as  envoys  of  Louis  xiv., 
and  received  permission  to  preach  the  Christian  gospel. 
Within  a  quarter  of  a  century  they  had,  they  said, 
baptized  200,000  of  the  natives.  Then  the  Persian 
ruler  turned  a  hostile  eye  on  the  growing  body,  and  it 
melted  more  rapidly  than  it  had  grown.  The  age  of 
Louis  XIV.  was  over,  the  French  dream  of  expansion 
laid  aside,  and  the  flow  of  French  money  interrupted. 

A  fresh  attempt  was  made  in  1677  to  induce  the 
Copts  of  Egypt  to  recognise  the  authority  of  the  Pope. 
The  now  familiar  device  was  adopted  of  impressing  the 
monarch  with  a  show  of  learning  and  art,  and  trusting  to 
sow  the  Christian  seed  insidiously  in  his  dominions.  In 
twenty  years  of  assiduous  labour  the  scholar-missionaries 
added  much  to  the  slender  geographical  and  archaeo- 
logical lore  of  Europe,  but  their  secret  religious  mission 
failed.  Abyssinia  also  still  resisted  their  efforts.  They 
converted  an  Emperor,  and  he  was  slain  in  civil  war  for 
endeavouring  to  force  the  new  creed  on  his  people ; 
they  secured  the  favour  of  his  successor,  and  a  Jesuit  at 
last  obtained  the  real  dignity  of  Patriarch  of  Abyssinia. 
A  threat  of  civil  war  moved  the  Emperor  to  restrict 
them,  and,  when  they  were  found  to  be  inspiring  their 
converts  with  seditious  sentiments,  they  were  once  more 
expelled  and — save  for  an  occasional  invasion  in  dis- 
guise— their  work  was  wholly  destroyed.  1 1  may  be  added 
that  some  of  the  more  heroic  of  the  Jesuits  penetrated 
the  Congo,  and  endeavoured  to  reach  the  blacks  at 
Tetuan,  Angola,  and  the  Guinea  coast.     Others  followed 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  297 

the  neofro  to  America ;  and  the  noble  and  self-sacrificinof 
labours  of  a  Father  Peter  Claver  for  forty  years  (1615- 
1654)  must  be  put  in  the  scale  against  their  general 
demoralisation. 

We  turn  now  to  the  famous  missions  of  South 
America,  and  must  endeavour  to  attain  an  impartial 
estimate  of  their  work,  especially  among  the  natives  of 
Paraguay.  I  have  previously  described  the  model 
villages,  or  "reductions,"  which  form  the  central 
interest  of  the  Jesuit  missions  in  America.  From  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  fathers  decided 
that  they  would  not  co-operate  with  the  Spaniards  of 
the  South  American  towns.  For  this  there  was  an 
admirable  motive,  and  we  saw  that  the  spirit  which 
animated  the  early  missionaries  in  that  region  was 
excellent.  They  went  out  in  couples  or  singly,  un- 
armed, into  the  vast  forests  and  along  the  great  rivers  in 
search  of  converts.  The  natives  at  first  fled  before 
them.  A  Spaniard  was,  to  them,  a  man  with  superior 
weapons  who  sought  only  to  enslave  the  natives  and 
make  wealth  by  their  toil.  It  was  at  first  for  the 
purpose  of  removing  this  natural  prejudice  that  the 
Jesuits  dissevered  themselves  from  the  colonists  and 
obtained  from  the  Kinof  a  declaration  that  the  natives 
who  had  been  baptized  should  never  be  enslaved. 
Later  they  obtained  for  them  exemption  from  military 
or  other  service,  and  from  any  kind  of  local  taxation. 
These  things  at  once  angered  the  great  body  of  the 
Spanish  colonists,  and  attracted  the  less  savage  natives 
to  the  missions.  They  therefore  next  secured  permission 
to  colonise  independently  of  the  laity,  and,  in  16 10, 
founded  the  first  reduction.  They  sent  trained  natives 
back  into  the  forests,  with  axes,  knives,  mirrors,  and 
other  enticing  presents,  and  the  fathers  themselves 
boldly  penetrated  time  after  time,  so  that  by  1630  they 


298  THE  JESUITS 

had  about  100,000  natives  in  their  reductions.  For 
some  years  their  colonies  were  then  devastated  by  a 
hostile  tribe  ;  but  the  Jesuits  obtained  from  the  Spanish 
King  permission  to  arm  their  pupils,  formed  an  army  of 
several  thousand  drilled  and  well-equipped  troops,  and 
more  than  recovered  their  ground.  In  the  course  of 
time  they  came  to  have  300,000  natives  in  their  reduc- 
tions. 

No  payment  was  made  to  the  workers  in  these 
reductions.  After  labouring  to  show  that  they  were 
not  very  productive,  the  apologist  for  the  Jesuits  is 
driven  to  plead  that  the  fathers  "did  not  think  it  proper 
to  give  ideas  of  cupidity  to  Christians  "  :  an  admirable 
sentiment,  if  the  Society  had  not  itself  appropriated  the 
superfluous  wealth  of  the  communities.  Nor  is  it  more 
convincing  to  be  reminded  of  the  natural  indolence  of 
the  natives.  They  were  not  indolent  in  the  reductions. 
Public  and  harsh  penances  were  inflicted  for  laziness, 
and  the  hours  of  work,  sleep,  play,  and  prayer  were 
rigorously  fixed.  Rough  huts,  light  clothing,  and 
sufficient  cheap  food  were  distributed  weekly  ;  festivals 
were  frequent,  and  were  enlivened  by  the  flute,  the 
song,  or  the  dance ;  morality  was  so  strictly  controlled 
that  the  natives  were  watched  even  during  the  nio-ht. 
It  does  not  seem  just  to  compare  them  with  slaves,  or 
suggest  that,  as  long  as  they  behaved  well,  they  were 
hardly  treated.  That  they  were  not  nearly  so  civilised 
as  the  roseate  letters  of  the  Jesuits  describe  will  appear 
presently,  but  it  was  much  that  300,000  natives  were 
induced  to  lead  regular  and  disciplined  lives.  It  is 
absurd  to  speak  of  "ideal  republics  "  when  the  workers 
dwelt  in  wretched  huts,  had  no  corporate  property  or 
power,  worked  all  day  for  masters  who  rendered  no 
account  to  them  or  any  other,  and  could,  when  they 
were  on  the  march,  at  once    revert  to  savagery.      But 


THE  FOREIGN   MISSIONS  299 

they  were  in  a  far  superior  position  to  that  of  the 
enslaved,  brutalised,  wine-sodden  natives  who  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  lay  colonists. 

The  antagonism  to  the  reductions  was  in  principle 
economic.  The  Spanish  traders  felt  that  they  were 
prevented  from  exploiting  the  natives,  a  grievance  with 
which  we  may  or  may  not  sympathise,  and  bitterly 
reproached  the  Jesuits  with  indulging  in  commerce. 
When  "Edifying  Letters"  were  published  which 
described  the  Jesuits  marching  out  once  more  from  their 
pleasant  reductions,  facing  the  untamed  savages  or  the 
beasts  and  serpents  of  new  regions  with  the  crucifix  in 
their  hands,  people  scoffingly  observed  that  new 
reductions  would  increase  the  income  of  the  Society. 
The  Jesuits  retorted  that  contact  with  Spaniards  would 
mean  disease  and  vice  among  their  pupils,  and  they 
would  rather  manage  the  villages — they  did  not,  of 
course,  admit  that  they  indulged  in  commerce — than 
admit  European  laymen.  That  they  made  a  large 
profit  out  of  300,000  meagrely  rewarded  workers  it  is 
impossible  to  doubt,  but  how  are  we  to  judge  the 
sincerity  of  their  statement  that  they  retained  control 
solelv  from  religious  and  moral  motives  ? 

Possibly  the  facts  of  their  relations  with  the  bishops 
of  Paraguay  will  enable  us  to  decide,  if  their  action  on 
other  foreign  missions  be  not  regarded  as  sufficient. 
These  facts  are,  of  course,  challenged  by  Jesuit  writers, 
but  the  authority  is  too  serious  for  us  to  set  them  aside 
on  that  account.  Dom  Bernardine  de  Cardenas,  a 
Franciscan  monk  who  became  Bishop  of  Paraguay, 
sent  Friar  Villalon  to  the  Spanish  court  and  the  Vatican 
to  complain  of  the  Jesuits.  I  state  the  facts  as  they 
are  given  in  Villalon's  memorial  to  Philip  of  Spain  ;  and 
those  who  think  that  they  are  discredited  because  the 
Jesuits    denied    the    more    flagrant    charges    and    the 


300  THE  JESUITS 

Spanish  court,  ruled  by  Jesuits,  rejected  them,  are 
free  to  impute  the  mendacity  to  the  bishop  rather  than 
to  the  Jesuits. 

The  two  predecessors  of  Cardenas  had  had  much 
trouble  with  the  Jesuits,  but  for  a  year  or  two  after 
his  consecration  he  was  on  very  friendly  terms  with 
them.  They  did  not  from  the  first  affect  to  regard  his 
consecration  as  invalid,  as  their  apologist  says ;  that 
idea  (afterwards  refuted  by  the  Papacy)  occurred  to 
them  in  the  course  of  the  quarrel.  In  1644,  Cardenas 
announced  that  he  was  about  to  visit  the  reductions, 
which  formed  part  of  his  diocese,  and  the  Jesuits  offered 
him  20,000  crowns  to  omit  that  part  of  his  visitation. 
He  refused,  and  they  discovered  a  scruple  about  the 
validity  of  his  consecration.  As  Cardenas  insisted,  they 
spread  the  report  in  the  reductions  that  Spanish  priests 
were  coming  who  would  interfere  with  the  women, 
raised  a  troop  of  eight  hundred  Indians,  and  advanced 
toward  the  episcopal  town  of  Assumption.  The 
governor,  a  brutal  man,  had  previously  quarrelled 
with  the  bishop,  and  one  would  imagine  that  it  hardly 
needed  a  bribe  of  30,000  crowns  to  secure  his  co-opera- 
tion. It  is  at  least  quite  certain  that,  as  he  travelled, 
the  bishop  was  seized  by  the  governor  at  the  head  of 
the  Jesuit  soldiers,  brutally  treated,  and  sent  into  exile 
200  miles  away. 

Cardenas  made  his  way  with  great  difficulty  to  La 
Plata,  placed  his  case  before  the  higher  tribunal  of  the 
Royal  Audience,  and  was  awarded  his  see.  Near  the 
city  he  was,  however,  again  arrested  by  the  Jesuit 
troops,  and  sent  back  to  his  wretched  exile.  In  1647 
there  was  a  change  of  governor,  and  he  returned,  to 
the  great  joy  of  the  town.  The  Jesuits,  however, 
intrigued  with  his  clergy,  allowed  two  of  his  canons  to 
set  up  a  rival  chapter  in  their  residence,  and  turned  the 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  301 

new  governor  against  him.  He  was  besieged  in  his 
cathedral  for  fourteen  days  ;  but  a  compromise  was 
accepted,  and,  when  the  governor  died  two  years 
afterwards,  the  citizens  nominated  Cardenas  himself 
governor,  in  accordance  with  their  legal  right.  The 
Jesuits  then  set  up  a  rival  for  the  governorship,  secured, 
by  intrigue  and  bribery,  his  recognition  by  the  authorities 
at  La  Plata,  and  put  4000  of  their  armed  Indians,  under 
Jesuit  leaders,  at  his  disposal.  Leaving  behind  them  a 
trail  of  outrage  which  does  not  harmonise  with  the 
Jesuit  description  of  their  pupils,  these  troops  flung 
themselves  upon  the  armed  and  angry  citizens.  In  the 
battle  that  followed  385  Indians  and  a  Jesuit  were  slain, 
but  the  citizens  were  overpowered. 

Meantime  the  Jesuits  made  use  of  an  extraordinary 
privilege  which  they  professed  to  have  received  from 
Pius  V.  and  Gregory  xiii.  They  said  that,  in  case  of  a 
dispute  between  themselves  and  the  bishop,  they  had 
the  right  to  nominate  a  judge  (or  conservator),  chosen 
by  themselves,  to  arbitrate.  We  have  seen  them  use 
this  privilege  in  the  remote  Philippines,  and  shall  meet 
it  again.  It  was  a  gross  and  ludicrous  claim,  as  the 
Jesuits  always  took  care  to  choose  a  judge  who  would 
declare  in  their  favour;  indeed,  Pope  Innocent  x.  after- 
wards declared  (as  we  shall  see)  that  they  had  no  such 
right.  They  chose  a  friend,  a  corrupt  member  of  one 
of  the  laxer  religious  congregations,  and  he  excom- 
municated the  bishop.  The  Jesuit  troops  then  seized 
the  prelate  and  transported  him  some  200  leagues  from 
the  city.  From  his  exile  he  sent  Father  Villanon  to 
Spain,  and,  though  the  friar  was  waylaid  and  rifled  by 
the  Jesuit  troops,  he  succeeded  in  reaching  Madrid  and 
informing  the  King.  It  happened  that  the  King  had 
only  a  few  years  before  received  authentic  information 
of   a  similar  outrage   in  Mexico,  and   had  sent  a  stern 


302  THE  JESUITS 

reprimand  to  the  Jesuits,  in  spite  of  the  group  of  court- 
fathers.  There  seemed,  however,  no  prospect  of  peace, 
and  Cardenas  was  transferred  to  another  diocese. 

From    1650    to     1750    the    province    of    Paraguay- 
enjoyed    its    prosperity    with    httle    interruption.       The 
troops,  which  were  trained  and  equipped  at  the  various 
reductions,  amounted    in    time    to    an    army   of    15,000 
finely   armed    men,    with    the    fighting    instincts    of  the 
savage  and  the  best  weapons  that  Europe  could  supply, 
so  that  neither  the  unconverted  tribes  nor  the  Spaniards 
could  assail  them.     Heroic  efforts  were  made,  thouo-h 
with  very  moderate  success,  to  extend  the  area  of  the 
missions.     The  Society  never  lacked  men  of  the  most 
intrepid  and   self-sacrificing  character,  and   numbers  of 
them  left  their  bones  to  bleach  in  the  infested  forests  or 
on  the  scorching  plains.      One  must  be  lamentably  pre- 
judiced  to   refuse   to  see    the   heroism    of  these    brave 
aposdes  ;  but  it  would  be  an  equal  evidence  of  prejudice 
to  fail  to  recognise  that,  whether  they  realised  it  or  no, 
they  were  the  apostles  or  pioneers  of  the  vast  and  pro- 
fitable   Industrial    system    in    which    the    Jesuits    were 
improperly  engaged.     Time  after  time  royal  or  ecclesi- 
astical inquisitors  were  sent — no  voluntary  and  serious 
inquisitor  was  ever  admitted — to  examine  the  reductions 
and  draw  up  a  flattering  report  for  the  Spanish  or  the 
Roman  court.      I    have   said    that  the   reductions  were 
admirable   in   comparison  with   the  miserable  condition 
of  the  other   natives    who    fell    into  the    hands  of  the 
Spaniards  and   Portuguese ;    but  that  the  Jesuits  were 
engaged  in  commerce,  that  they  exploited  their  natives 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Society,  and  that  they  were  prepared 
to  adopt  the  most  unprincipled  measures  to  protect  their 
monopoly.  Is  an  historical  platitude. 

In  1750,  Ferdinand  vi.,  as  a  reward  for  the  military 
services    which    their    troops    (always    led    by    Jesuits) 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  303 

rendered  so  frequently  to  his  officers,  exempted  them 
from  the  Httle  taxation — a  fee  to  the  crown — to  which 
they  were  subject,  and  an  era  of  greater  prosperity  than 
ever  seemed  to  open.  In  that  very  year,  however,  as 
we  saw,  Spain  and  Portugal  came  to  an  agreement 
which  was  fateful  for  the  Society.  Portugal  ceded 
Sacramento,  a  place  of  great  strategical  importance,  to 
Spain  in  exchange  for  a  part  of  Paraguay  which  con- 
tained seven  of  the  reductions.  The  court-Jesuits  tried 
in  vain  to  defeat  this  arrangement,  and  troops  were  sent 
to  take  over  the  territory  ceded  to  Portugal.  They 
were  confronted  by  a  force  of  15,000  troops,  gathered 
from  the  whole  of  the  Jesuit  reductions,  and  a  bloody 
battle  ensued.  It  was,  in  fact,  only  after  a  prolonged 
struggle,  and  by  bringing  superior  troops,  that  the  joint 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  army  conquered  the  insurrec- 
tion. From  sheer  cupidity  the  Jesuits  had  dealt  a  fatal 
blow  at  their  own  prosperity. 

Their  apologist  would  have  us  believe  that  the 
fathers  used  all  the  influence  they  possessed  to  restrain 
the  natives  and  secure  their  submission.  On  the  face 
of  it,  such  an  assertion  is  a  piece  of  mere  effrontery. 
The  natives,  especially  the  native  troops,  never  moved 
without  Jesuit  directions,  and  these  troops  were 
evidently  drafted  by  the  controllers  of  the  province  from 
all  the  various  reductions.  The  correspondence  of  the 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  commanders  fully  inculpates 
the  Jesuits  ;  and,  as  we  saw,  the  Portuguese  authorities 
intercepted  letters  in  which  Father  Rabago  directed  the 
local  Jesuits  to  organise  a  resistance.  Even  the  pious 
Spanish  King  was  convinced  that  they  were  responsible 
for  the  insurrection.  They  could  combat  King  or 
Pope  when  the  fortune  or  power  of  the  Society  was 
threatened.  And  for  their  reluctance  to  sacrifice  seven 
out  of  their  fifty  reductions  their  fate  was  sealed.    Within 


304  THE  JESUITS 

ten  years  the  order  came  from  Spain  to  remove  all 
the  Jesuits  from  their  homes  and  ship  them  to  Europe. 
The  government  acted  on  this  occasion  with  craft  and 
secrecy,  and  left  no  room  for  insurrection  ;  the  dejected 
missionaries  arrived  at  the  mother-country  only  to 
learn  that  the  Society  was  ignominiously  proscribed 
throuorhout  the  Kind's  dominions,  and  that  half  of 
Catholic  Europe  was  clamouring  for  their  annihilation/ 
The   Portuguese   fathers   in    Brazil   were  less  enter- 

o 

prising  than  their  Spanish  colleagues.  In  the  course  of 
the  sixteenth  century  they  spread  along  the  banks  of 
the  Amazon  and  converted  a  larofe  number  of  the 
natives.  When  the  Dutch  took  the  town  of  Marag-non 
in  1 64 1,  and  threatened  their  work,  the  Jesuits  were 
very  active  in  inspiring  the  successful  rising  against 
them,  and  they  were  rewarded  by  the  King  with 
privileges  for  their  protegees.  In  1653,  Father  Vieira, 
whom  we  have  met  in  the  chapter  on  Portugal,  came  out 
to  Brazil,  and  the  work  proceeded  more  rapidly.  The 
apologetic  writers  ask  us  to  admire  the  noble  conduct  of 
this  orifted  father  in  abandoning  the  comfort  of  the  court 
for  the  steaming  forests  and  rough  natives  of  Brazil  ; 
but  we  have  seen  that  Father  Vieira's  countrymen  had 
more  to  do  with  his  departure  than  any  lofty  sentiment 
he  may  have  possessed.  He  applied  his  impetuous 
temper  and  great  ability  to  the  work  of  the  mission,  and 
it  rapidly  advanced  in  organisation  and  profitableness, 
until  the  American-Portuguese  in  turn  sent  Vieira  upon 
another  stage  of  his  stormy  career.  The  reductions  or 
colonies  of  Brazil  were  not  organised  and  controlled  as 
firmly  as   those  of  Paraguay.      The  luxuriance  of  the 

^  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  value  of  the  Paraguay  reductions. 
Robertson,  in  his  Letters  on  Paraguay,  calculates  that  the  average  Indian 
earned  at  least  a  hundred  dollars  yearly,  and  that  his  food,  hut,  and  clothing 
did  not  cost  fifty.  He  estimates  the  total  value  of  a  hundred  thousand  such 
workers  and  the  property  as  about  ^5,641,200. 


THE  FOREIGN   MISSIONS  305 

soil  dispensed  the  natives  from  assiduous  labour,  but 
the  colonies  were  not  without  profit,  and,  when  the 
Jesuits  obtained  from  the  King  a  declaration  that  all 
the  natives  in  his  American  dominion  must  pass  under 
their  control,  the  planters  and  merchants  entered  into 
bitter  hostility.  Twice  they  expelled  the  Jesuits,  and 
twice  the  priest-ridden  court  secured  their  return.  At 
last  Pombal  came  to  power  in  Portugal,  and,  as  we  saw, 
the  Jesuits  were  withdrawn  and  cast  upon  the  shores  of 
the  Papal  States. 

Instead  of  minutely  examining  the  slender  colonies 
which  had  meantime  been  founded  in  Chile,  Peru,  and 
other  parts  of  South  America,  we  will  pass  at  once  to 
the  north  and  conclude  with  a  short  account  of  the 
missions  in  Mexico,  California,  and  Canada.  Here  the 
famous  case  of  Bishop  Palafox  at  once  claims  our 
attention,  and  I  feel  justified  in  relying  implicitly  on  the 
two  letters  in  which  this  saintly  and  learned  prelate 
stated  his  grievances  to  Pope  Innocent  x.  When 
these  letters  were  published,  ten  years  after  they  were 
written,  the  Jesuits  exclaimed  that  they  were  forged, 
and  Cretineau-Joly  very  dishonestly  insinuates  that 
there  is  ground  to  suspect  this.  Not  only  are  these 
letters  expressly  mentioned  in  a  decree  of  the 
Congregation  of  Rites  (i6th  December  1660),  and 
not  only  did  Pope  Innocent  issue  three  briefs  against 
the  Jesuits  in  virtue  of  them,  but  Arnauld  showed,  at 
the  time  of  the  original  controversy,  that  Palafox 
himself,  foreseeing  the  manoeuvres  of  the  Jesuits,  had 
left  with  the  general  of  the  Carmelite  monks  a  written 
attestation  of  his  authorship  of  the  second  (and  more 
deadly)  letter.  We  have,  further,  a  reference  to  this 
letter,  prohibiting  its  circulation  for  peace'  sake,  in  a 
decree  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  of  5th  February  1661. 
To  doubt  the  genuineness  of  the  letters  is  frivolous, 
20 


3o6  THE  JESUITS 

and  the  character  of  the  writer  is  above  dispute.  His 
virtues  won  for  him  the  official  tide  of  "Venerable" 
from  the  Vatican,  and  might  have  won  a  higher  title 
but  for  the  intrigues  of  the  Jesuits. 

Palafox  was  Bishop  of  Angelopolis,  and  in  that 
capacity  he  attempted  to  make  the  Jesuits  pay  his  see 
the  just  tithes  on  the  property  they  inherited.  They 
replied  with  abuse,  and  he  then  inquired  by  what 
authority  they  preached  and  heard  confessions  in  his 
diocese.  They  arrogantly  boasted  of  their  special 
privileges,  and  refused  to  show  the  documents,  as  they 
had  a  further  privilege  excusing  them  from  doing  so  ; 
a  claim  which  the  Pope  afterwards  declared  to  be  false. 
Palafox  informed  the  faithful  that  they  had  no  powers 
for  the  ministry.  At  this  the  Jesuits  produced  another 
of  their  remarkable  privileges — the  power  to  appoint 
judges  of  the  difference — and  paid  4000  crowns  each  to 
two  Dominican  monks  of  Mexico  city  to  come  and 
arbitrate.  The  viceroy  also  was  bribed,  and  the  two 
monks  were  led  into  Angelopolis  with  a  great  parade  of 
trumpeters  and  guards.  A  notice  was  soon  posted  at 
the  street  corners  to  the  effect  that  the  Bishop  of 
Angelopolis  was  deposed  and  excommunicated  for  his 
improper  conduct,  and,  in  June  1647,  Palafox  fled  to  the 
hills  from  the  growing  violence.  On  31st  July,  the 
feast  of  St.  Ignatius,  a  carnival-procession,  starting  from 
the  Jesuit  house,  bore  round  the  town  the  most  ribald, 
and  even  obscene,  caricatures  of  the  bishop's  office. 
Numbers  of  his  supporters  were  banished,  and  bands  of 
soldiers  and  Jesuit  spies  wandered  about  the  hills  in 
search  of  the  wretched  hut  where  Palafox  was  hidden. 

All  these  details  are  submitted  to  the  Pope  in  the 
bishop's  letters,  and,  in  order  to  make  them  intelligible, 
a  remarkable  account  is  given  of  the  worldly  prosperity 
of  the  fathers.     They  hold,  it  seems,  the  greater  part  of 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  307 

the  wealth  of  Mexico.  Two  of  their  colleges  own 
300,000  sheep/  besides  cattle  and  other  property. 
They  own  six  large  sugar-refineries,  worth  from  half 
a  million  to  a  million  crowns  each,  and  making  an  annual 
profit  of  100,000  crowns  each,  while  all  the  other  monks 
and  clergy  of  Mexico  together  own  only  three  small 
refineries.  They  have  immense  farms,  rich  silver 
mines,  large  shops  and  butcheries,  and  do  a  vast  trade. 
Yet  they  continually  intrigue  for  legacies — a  woman  has 
recently  left  them  70,000  crowns — and  they  refuse  to 
pay  the  appointed  tithe  on  them.  It  is  piquant  to  add 
to  this  authoritative  description  that  the  Jesuit  con- 
gregations at  Rome  were  still  periodically  forbidding 
the  fathers  to  indulge  in  commerce,  and  Jesuit  writers 
still  gravely  maintain  that  the  Society  never  engaged  in 
commerce.  It  should  also  be  added  that  the  mission- 
aries were  still  heavily  subsidised  by  the  King  of  Spain, 
that  there  were  (the  bishop  says)  only  five  or  six  Jesuits 
to  each  of  their  establishments,  and  that  they  conducted 
only  ten  colleges. 

From  his  refuge  Palafox  had  sent  messengers  both 
to  Rome  and  Madrid,  and  replies  severely  condemning 
the  Jesuits  were  at  once  sent  both  by  the  Pope  and  the 
King.  Pope  Innocent  appointed  a  commission  of 
cardinals  and  bishops  to  examine  the  appeal  of  Palafox 
and  counter-appeal  of  the  Roman  Jesuits.  They  declared 
in  favour  of  the  bishop  on  almost  every  point,  and  the 
Pope  issued  his  first  brief  in  that  sense  (14th  May 
1648).  On  25th  June  the  King  severely  condemned 
them  for  appointing  a  judge  and  defying  the  bishop. 
The  Jesuits  affected  to  regard  the  papal  brief  as  not 
bindino-  because  it  had  not  been  endorsed  by  the 
Royal  Council ;  a  strange  departure  from  ultramontane 

1  In  the  English  translation  of  Hoensbroech's  Fourteen  Years  a  Jesuit 
the  figure  is  wrongly  given  as  30,000. 


3o8  THE  JESUITS 

principles.  In  a  word,  the  King  had  to  repeat  his 
warning,  and  the  Pope  had  twice  to  repeat  his  orders, 
before  they  abandoned  their  intrigues  in  Mexico, 
Madrid,  and  Rome.  Palafox  was,  however,  invited 
to  Spain — the  King's  letters  treat  him  always  with  the 
greatest  respect — and  it  was  concluded  that,  in  the 
interest  of  peace,  he  should  remain  in  the  motherland. 
Even  in  the  grave  the  Jesuits  persecuted  the  saintly 
bishop,  bitterly  opposing  his  canonisation,  but  his  letters 
remain  a  terrible  indictment  of  their  behaviour  on  the 
missions. 

There  were  other  Jesuit  estates  and  villages  in 
California  (or  the  eastern  part  of  North  America),  from 
which  a  profitable  trade  was  conducted  with  Manila  by 
means  of  a  fine  frigate  belonging  to  the  Society.  In 
the  Antilles  they  boasted  an  official  monopoly  of  the 
"spiritual  administration  "  of  the  French  islands.  It  is 
true  that  this  gave  them  a  new  opportunity  for  com- 
merce, and  that  they  did  much  political  service  for  the 
French  government  in  return  for  the  privilege  ;  but  it  is 
proper  to  add  that  many  of  the  fathers  distinguished 
themselves  by  self-sacrificing  labour  among  the  negro 
slaves.  Their  mission  in  Maryland  was  destroyed  by 
the  growth  of  Protestantism,  and  it  remains  only  to  say 
a  word  about  their  fortunes  in  Canada. 

The  nomadic  habits  of  the  Indians  and  the  ever- 
recurring  warfare  prevented  them  from  achieving  a 
great  success  in  Canada.  In  the  softer  districts  by  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  lakes  they  succeeded  in  establish- 
ing a  few  of  their  agricultural  colonies,  but  their  work 
was  arduous,  dangerous,  and  not  generally  profitable, 
and  even  the  prestige  of  the  French  government,  for 
which  they  acted  as  political  agents,  did  not  enable  them 
to  convert  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  Indians. 
Moreover,  much  as  we  may  admire  the  devotion    and 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  309 

endurance  many  of  them  displayed  in  seeking  to  win  the 
fierce  and  roving  tribes,  commercial  eagerness  taints 
their  work  indelibly.  When  they  first  received  per- 
mission to  enter  Canada  from  Henry  iv.,  they  were  long 
detained  in  France  because  they  refused  to  come  to  an 
agreement  about  trade  with  the  lay  colonists,  and  their 
first  missionaries  were  captured  by  the  English  in  an 
endeavour  to  cross  the  seas  without  this  understanding. 
Eighty  years  later,  when  peace  was  made  with  the 
formidable  Iroquois,  who  had  so  often  blighted  their 
work,  the  Indian  spokesman  insisted  that  they  would 
not  admit  the  Jesuits,  as  the  fathers  sought  only  their 
beavers  and  their  women.  On  the  other  hand,  no  one 
questions  the  great  political  service  they  rendered  to 
their  government  in  disposing  the  Indians  to  receive 
French  authority  and  embittering  them  against  the 
English.  Their  story,  until  England  took  Canada  in 
1759,  and  France  itself  disowned  them  a  few  years  later, 
was  one  of  individual  devotion  overshadowed  by  a 
corporate  occupation  with  commerce  and  politics. 

We    have    now    surveyed    the    vast    field    of   Jesuit 
missionary   activity   in  the   seventeenth   and  eighteenth 
centuries,  and  can  appreciate  the  effect  when,  in  a  few 
years  time,  the  voice  of  the  Pope  will  summon  them  to 
lay  aside  for  ever  their  black  robes  and  their  proud  name. 
It  would  be  hypocritical  to  say  that  we  cannot  sum  up  in 
few  words  the  impressions  gathered    from  this  survey. 
Let  us  recognise  in  the  first  place  that  thousands  of  the 
fathers   displayed  heroic  zeal    in    discharging  the  work 
which  the  Society  laid  on  them.      Frenchmen,  Spaniards, 
Portuguese,    and     Italians,    often    of    noble    birth    and 
brilliant  parts,  faced  the  perils  of  a  mediaeval   voyage, 
wandered   afoot  over  leagues  of  desolate  mountain   or 
deadly  forest,   and  laid    down  their  lives  courageously 
under   the  plague  or  the  sword.     Yet  there  is  another 


3IO  THE  JESUITS 

aspect  which  we  perceive  just  as  clearly :  another  quality 
which  we  find  in  the  silken  courts  of  China  or  Siam  or 
Persia,  the  blaze  of  Indian  or  Brazilian  villages,  on  the 
plains  of  Paraguay  or  Mexico,  and  amid  the  snows  of 
Canada.  It  is  everywhere,  it  is  identical,  and  it  is 
palpable.  These  men  have  fallen  from  their  ideals. 
In  virtue  of  a  vast  and  hypocritical  system  of  commerce 
they  amass  wealth  and  power,  defend  it  with  mean 
intrigue  and  violent  assault,  blunt  their  moral  sense  in 
pursuit  of  more,  relax  into  sensuality  and  are  lifted  to 
arrogance.      It  is  time  that  they  have  a  severe  lesson. 


CHAPTER   XII 

IN  THE   GERMANIC  LANDS 

When  we  come  to  record  the  culmination  of  the  earHer 
history  of  the  Jesuits  in  a  solemn  and  reasoned  con- 
demnation of  the  Society  by  the  Papacy,  we  shall  note  a 
singular  circumstance  of  the  reception  of  the  news  in 
Europe.  The  Catholic  monarchs  of  France,  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  Naples  applaud  the  act,  and  there  is  little 
serious  demur  to  it  among  the  millions  of  southern 
Catholics  under  their  control.  The  Catholic  Emperor 
assents  very  willingly  to  the  destruction  of  the  Society, 
and  the  Jesuits  and  their  friends  cannot  succeed  in 
inspiring  any  wide  revolt  in  Austria  and  the  neighbouring 
principalities.  But  the  Protestant  King  of  Prussia  and 
the  Greek  Catholic  Empress  of  Russia  open  the  doors  of 
their  dominions  to  the  fugitives  from  Roman  lands,  and 
protest  that  the  Jesuits  have  been  ill-used.  For  two 
hundred  years  the  Jesuits  have  strained  every  nerve, 
and  every  canon  of  controversial  decency,  in  an  attack 
on  heresy  and  schism,  yet  they  secretly  ask  Frederick  of 
Prussia  to  declare  himself  the  "  protector  of  the  Society," 
and  they  shelter  from  Catholic  hostility  in  the  court  of 
Catherine  of  Russia ! 

On  this  singular  circumstance  much  explanatory  light 
will  be  thrown  at  the  proper  moment,  but  I  anticipate 
the  fact  itself  because  it  suggests  a  general  point  of  view. 
Clearly,  the  behaviour  of  the  Jesuits  differed  in  Catholic 

and  in  Protestant  countries,  and  we  have  seen  from  the 

311 


312  THE  JESUITS 

start  that  Jesuit  conduct  in  German  Protestant  lands 
often  contrasted  very  favourably  with  Jesuit  conduct  in 
Catholic  countries.  They  do  indeed  betray  their  un- 
edifying  jealousy  of  all  other  workers  in  the  papal  army, 
they  seek  opportunities  for  intrigue  and  for  acquiring 
wealth,  but  the  presence  of  large  bodies  of  Protestant 
observers  has  its  effect  on  their  moral  and  cultural 
standard.  They  adapt  themselves  to  the  environment 
as  we  have  found  them  do  in  China  or  India.  However, 
the  group  of  countries  which  we  are  compelled  to 
associate  in  this  chapter  are  very  varied  in  creed,  and  we 
will  glance  at  the  outstanding  Jesuit  experiences  in  each 
down  to  the  time  of  the  suppression  of  the  Society. 

Commencing  with  Scandinavia,  we  have  first  to 
consider  the  romantic  episode  of  the  conversion  of 
Queen  Christina.  The  daughter  of  Gustavus  Adolphus 
succeeded  to  the  throne  in  her  sixth  year,  in  1632,  and 
was  carefully  trained  for  the  task  of  ruling.  Her  native 
disposition,  no  less  than  the  masculine  work  which  lay 
before  her,  made  her  resent  every  tendency  toward  the 
softness  of  her  sex,  and  she  became  a  hard  rider,  an 
assiduous  student  of  art  and  letters,  a  companion  of 
great  scholars,  and  a  resolute  spinster.  For  many  years 
the  Swedes  were  proud  of  their  Amazon  Queen,  as  she 
loved  to  represent  herself,  and  even  admired  her  command 
of  southern  culture  and  tongues  (Greek,  Latin,  French, 
Italian,  Spanish).  She  slept  only  five  or  six  hours,  dis- 
cussed philosophy  with  scholars  like  Descartes  (who  was 
a  month  or  two  in  Sweden)  at  five  in  the  morning,  con- 
versed with  the  ambassadors  in  their  own  tongues,  and 
might  then  hunt  for  ten  hours  in  her  amazon  costume. 
Altogether  a  romantic  person,  and  the  Jesuits  approached 
her. 

We    remember   Professor   Nicolai   and   Ambassador 
Possevin    and  other    Jesuits    who  had  tried  to  convert 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  313 

Sweden.  The  new  missionary,  Father  Macedo  of 
Portugal,  was  disguised  as  the  secretary  of  the  Portuguese 
ambassador,  Pereira.  It  may  be  that  Macedo  went 
merely  to  act  as  confessor  to  Pereira,  but  he  soon  took 
an  independent  line.  He  found  the  way  to  the  Queen's 
study,  impressed  her  with  his  learning,  and  confided  to 
her  that  he  was  a  disguised  Jesuit.  Christina,  in  turn, 
confided  that  she  had  doubts  about  Lutheranism,  and 
would  discuss  with  learned  fathers  of  the  Society. 
Macedo  discovered  that  the  climate  was  too  rigrorous  for 
him,  and,  as  the  ambassador  refused  to  give  him  leave 
of  absence,  fled  to  Rome  ;  and  two  very  learned  Jesuits, 
also  in  disguise,  sailed  in  a  very  roundabout  way  for 
Stockholm.  Christina  was  soon  converted  by  the  two 
"  merchants,"  and,  after  some  rather  shady  manoeuvres 
to  secure  her  art-collections  and  her  revenues,  she  fled 
in  the  disguise  of  a  man  to  Brussels,  where  a  brilliant 
gathering-  of   Catholics  welcomed    her  into  the  Church 

(1655). 

As  Christina  had  little  to  do  with  the  Jesuits  after  her 
conversion,  and  the  Swedes  promptly  closed  the  gates 
against  further  Catholic  invasions,  we  might  leave  the 
story,  but  it  is  of  some  interest  to  consider  whether  the 
"  conversion "  was  genuine.  There  is  good  reason  to 
believe  that  Christina  was  tired  of  the  bleak  north,  and 
decided  to  secure  her  revenue,  change  her  creed,  and 
spend  the  rest  of  her  years  in  the  sunny  and  artistic 
south.  The  Jesuits  were  to  be  the  guarantors  of  her 
orthodoxy  to  the  Pope,  on  whom  she  must  rely  if  the 
angry  Swedes  cut  off  supplies  (as  eventually  happened). 
She  had  no  deep  religious  feeling.  When  a  Belgian  Jesuit 
remarked  that  they  might  yet  see  her  among  the  saints, 
she  answered  that  she  would  prefer  to  be  put  among  the 
sages ;  and  it  is  said — though  with  less  authority — that 
when  she  was  told  that  there  was  to  be  a  comedy  on 


314  THE  JESUITS 

the  day  of  her  public  reception  into  the  Church  at 
Innspruck,  she  observed  that  it  was  very  proper  "after 
this  morning's  farce."  She  is,  at  all  events,  described 
by  some  who  knew  her  as  "almost  libertine  in  speaking 
of  religion  and  morals,"  and  the  amorous  attentions  of 
Roman  cardinals  did  not  improve  her  piety.  After  a 
few  years'  enjoyment  of  her  liberty,  her  passionate  nature 
brought  serious  difficulties  upon  her,  and  her  life  proved 
a  lamentable  failure  and  waste  of  ability. 

In  the  kingdom  of  Poland  the  Jesuits  found  the  most 
congenial  home  that  they  ever  discovered  apart  from  the 
southern  Latin  countries  to  which  most  of  them  belonged. 
Nor  is  this  the  only  or  the  most  serious  parallel ;  Poland, 
like  Portugal,  Spain,  and  France  (after  1700),  decayed 
rapidly  after  the  Jesuits  attained  the  height  of  their 
power  in  the  country.  Catholic  writers  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century  used  to  contrast  the 
prosperity  of  the  States  which  had  adhered  to  the 
Vatican  with  the  failure  or  stagnation  of  States  which 
accepted  the  Reformation.  France,  Spain,  Portugal, 
and  Austria  were  the  great  world-Powers,  and,  under 
Sobieski,  Poland  promised  to  attain  an  important 
position.  England,  on  the  other  hand,  was  still  a  small 
empire  ;  Holland  was  falling  from  its  momentary  great- 
ness ;  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Denmark  were  regarded 
as  half-barbaric ;  the  Swiss  cantons  were  a  small 
pastoral  folk ;  the  German  Protestant  States  were 
exhausted  and  distracted.  The  argument  has  recoiled 
on  the  Romanist  with  terrible  force.  The  Catholic 
States  have  increasingly  decayed,  or  defied  the  authority 
of  the  Pope  ;  the  Protestant  States  are  the  great  world- 
Powers.  The  Protestant  colonies  in  America  have 
become  a  great  civilisation ;  the  Catholic  colonies  rise  to 
prestige  only  in  proportion  as  (like  Argentina)  they 
abandon  their  creed. 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  315 

It  has,  therefore,  been  quite  natural  for  writers  on 
the  Jesuits  to  emphasise  the  fact  that  the  countries  in 
which  they  obtained  the  greatest  control  have  been  the 
most  conspicuous  Powers  to  decay,  and  the  imagination 
instinctively  recalls  the  picture  of  some  giant  of  a  tropical 
forest  gradually  embraced  and  killed  by  a  parasitic 
growth.  This  picture  should  not  be  admitted  too  easily. 
Art,  for  instance,  has  often  prospered  most  luxuriantly 
when  a  civilisation  was  beginning  to  decay,  yet  it  was 
assuredly  not  a  parasitic  growth  accelerating  the  decay. 
It  is  possible  that  the  Jesuits  flourished  becmise  the 
nation  was  decaying,  not  that  the  nation  decayed  because 
they  prospered.  The  problem  requires  careful  analysis 
and  exact  proof.  We  have  seen,  however,  in  the  case 
of  Spain  and  Portugal  that,  in  point  of  fact,  the  prosperity 
of  the  Society  was  both  economically  and  politically 
injurious  to  those  States — that  the  Jesuits  really  diverted 
into  their  own  organisation  the  wealth  and  power  which 
should  have  contributed  to  the  well-being  of  the  State 
— and  we  shall  find  the  same  situation  in  Poland  and 
Austria. 

In  Poland,  as  in  Austria,  a  Jesuit  of  the  time  would 
have  contended  that  the  Society  justified  its  wealth  and 
power  by  its  educational  work.  We  saw  how  the 
Society  overran  the  country  and,  by  intrigue  and 
violence,  captured  the  function  of  higher  education  during 
the  reign  of  Batori.  From  that  date  Poland  decayed, 
with  a  partial  revival  under  Sobieski,  In  the  long  and 
disastrous  reign  of  Sigismund  (i 590-1 632)  the  decay 
was  continuous,  and  the  power  of  the  Jesuits  sustained. 
One  point  is  clear  ;  there  was  a  grave  lack  of  virile  and 
unselfish  patriotism,  and  Jesuit  teachers  were  certainly 
not  the  men  to  inspire  it.  The  aim  of  Jesuit  education 
was  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  Church  rather  than 
the  State,  and  to  their  influence  most  particularly  were 


3i6  THE  JESUITS 

due  the  religious  quarrels  and  the  coercion  of  Protestant 
minorities  which  distracted  the  kinofdom,  broueht  on  it 
the  hostility  of  Protestant  neighbours,  and  fostered  selfish 
intrigue  for  power.  The  reign  of  Wladislas  (1632-48) 
had  the  same  features,  and  they  were  more  marked  than 
ever  when  a  Jesuit,  the  late  King's  brother,  John  Casimir, 
ascended  the  throne.  There  was  now  hardly  a  wealthy 
house,  a  school,  or  a  camp  that  did  not  contain  its 
Jesuit.  The  cause  of  religion  was  intensely  promoted, 
but  the  cause  of  the  country  fell  lower  and  lower,  and  its 
disastrous  and  distracted  condition  compelled  the  Jesuit 
monarch  to  abdicate  after  four  years. 

The  activity  of  the  Jesuits  is  very  well  seen  in  the 
election  of  the  next  king.     The  Poles  were  too  demo- 
cratic to  admit  the  hereditary  principle  ;  they  elected  their 
monarch,  and  each  election  was  now  the  occasion  for  a 
gathering  of  candidates   from  various   parts  of  Europe 
and   a   mass    of    bribery    and    intrigue.       Reusch    has 
published  in  his  Beitrdge  (p.   231)  a  private  letter  of  a 
Jesuit,  Father  Bodler,  which  shows  the  Jesuits  over  half 
of  Europe  intriguing  to  secure  at  the  election  of  1669  a 
man  who  will  suit  their  interests.     Father  Bodler,  con- 
fessor to  one  of  the  candidates,  the  Duke  of  Neuburg, 
writes  of  the  secret    campaign    to    Father   Veihelln   of 
Munich.     An  English  member  of  the  Society  has  been 
confidentially  entrusted    by  the    duke  with    the  task  of 
deciphering  a  difficult  private  letter.     As  this  letter  (from 
Prince  Auersperg)  caustically  observes  that  the  Jesuits 
divide  their  forces  at  an  election,  so  that  some  of  them 
are  sure  to  be  on  the  winning  side  (as  we  have  seen  so 
often),  it  is  at  once  communicated  by  the  English  Jesuit 
to  his  German  colleagues  and  even  translated  into  Latin 
for  the  general.     The  general,  It  seems,  has  to  be  kept 
informed    of    all    these    manoeuvres  —  while    he   edifies 
Europe  with  decrees    against    indulgence   in  politics  or 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  317 

commerce — and  Father  Bodler  feels  that  he  will  be 
blamed  "  if  the  matter  turns  out  less  favourably  for  the 
Society."  Such  documents  as  this,  generally  dis- 
covered in  Jesuit  houses  after  the  suppression  of  the 
Society,  differ  very  materially  from  the  published 
writings  of  the  Jesuits. 

On  this  occasion  neither  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  nor 
the  Duke  of  Neuburg,  for  whom  the  Jesuits  were 
working  in  apparent  contradiction  to  each  other  but 
with  secret  understanding,  was  elected.  The  Pole, 
Michael  Wisniowiecki,  ascended  the  throne,  and  the 
Polish  Jesuits  held  their  power  amid  the  decaying 
nation.  He  was  followed  by  the  great  Sobieski,  under 
whom  the  Society  had  more  political  influence  than  ever. 
Whether  in  camp  or  court  Sobieski  was  surrounded  by 
Jesuits,  and  some  of  the  most  important  and  disastrous 
points  of  his  policy  were  inspired  by  them.  It  was  his 
confessor.  Father  Vota,  who  prompted  him  to  reject 
France's  offer  of  alliance  and  accept  that  of  Austria ; 
and  we  know  the  shameful  ingratitude  of  Austria  when 
Sobieski  saved  Vienna  in  1683,  and  how  greedily  it 
took  its  share  of  Poland  when  the  country  became 
weak  enough  to  be  dismembered.  The  Poles  tired  of 
Sobieski's  costly  glory  and  despotic  rule  and  mis- 
chievous orthodoxy,  and  his  later  years  were  em- 
bittered by  a  feeling  of  failure. 

Frederick  Augustus  of  Saxony  succeeded  Sobieski. 
He  had  qualified  for  the  throne  by  corrupting  half  the 
Diet  and  abjuring  the  Protestant  faith,  and,  although  he 
was  naturally  of  a  tolerant  disposition,  he  was  compelled 
to  allow  the  Jesuits  and  other  clergy  to  continue  to 
weaken  the  country  by  religious  persecution.  Father 
Vota  was  entrusted  with  the  charge  of  his  accommodating- 
conscience,  and  concluded  that  the  opportunity  was 
excellent    for    transplanting    Catholic    intolerance   into 


3i8  THE  JESUITS 

Saxony,  to  which  Frederick  Augustus  was  for  a  time 
forced  to  retire.  The  apologist  for  the  Jesuits  relates 
that  it  was  Frederick  Augustus  himself  who  desired  to 
coerce  the  Protestants,  and  that  Vota  prudently  re- 
strained him.  That  would  be  a  remarkable  situation — 
a  loose  and  unprincipled  monarch,  who  had  embraced  the 
Catholic  faith  only  as  the  price  of  a  crown,  restrained  by 
the  confessor  of  Sobieski  from  persecuting  his  Protestant 
subjects — but  we  know  that,  in  point  of  fact,  it  was 
the  Saxon  ministers  who  had  to  restrain  the  Jesuit. 
Augustus  III.,  an  orthodox  voluptuary  and  worthless 
monarch,  followed  upon  the  throne  of  Poland ;  the 
Jesuits  continued  to  prosper  and  the  country  to  decay. 
We  shall  see  how,  when  its  helpless  frame  is  torn  by  its 
covetous  neighbours,  the  Jesuits  are  still  in  full  posses- 
sion of  their  wealth  and  power,  and  are  the  first  to  bow 
to  and  win  the  favour  of  the  Russian  invader.  There 
is,  however,  one  incident  of  Polish  life  in  the  eighteenth 
century  on  which  it  is  necessary  to  dwell  more  fully. 
We  have  an  ample  account  of  this  repulsive  event  ^  and 
it  throws  an  unpleasant  light  on  the  activity  of  the 
Jesuits  in  Poland. 

In  the  summer  of  1724  a  Protestant  of  Thorn  refused 
to  lift  his  hat  when  a  Catholic  procession  passed,  and 
he  was  assaulted  by  a  pupil  of  the  Jesuit  college.  The 
Protestant  authorities  arrested  the  Catholic  for  assault, 
and  a  riot  occurred,  in  the  course  of  which  the  Jesuit 
college  was  stormed  and  destroyed.  The  royal  authority 
was  now  invoked,  and  the  Mayor,  Vice-Mayor,  and  nine 
other  citizens  of  Thorn  were  arraigned  before  the  High 
Court  at  Warsaw  for  failing  to  prevent  the  destruction 
of  the  college.  A  Jesuit  was  permitted,  in  the  presence 
of  the  judges,  to  deliver  a  violently  inflammatory  sermon 
on  the  outrage,  and  the  unfortunate  men  were  condemned 

^  Jacobi's  Das  Thorner  Blutgericht,  and  other  documents. 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  319 

to  death.  A  singular  clause  was  added  to  the  sentence  : 
it  must  not  be  carried  out  until  a  Jesuit  and  six  members 
of  the  Polish  nobility  swore  to  the  guilt  of  the  accused. 
We  know  from  their  own  words  that  the  judges  trusted 
in  this  way  to  save  the  accused  from  the  vengeance  of 
the  Jesuits.  They  persuaded  the  Papal  Nuncio  to  press 
the  Jesuit  superior  not  to  send  one  of  his  subjects  to  take 
the  oath,  and,  when  a  Jesuit  appeared  nevertheless  at 
the  appointed  time,  to  swear  away  the  lives  of  the 
innocent  men,  they  pointed  out  that  a  priest  could  not 
canonically  take  any  action  which  would  lead  to  an  execu- 
tion. The  Jesuits  placidly  replied  that  they  had  sent 
a  "  lay  coadjutor,"  instead  of  a  priest,  to  take  the  oath. 
It  is  true  that,  once  they  had  sealed  the  fate  of  the  men, 
they  entered  a  plea  for  mercy,  but  we  are  familiar  with 
this  hypocritical  phrase  in  the  annals  of  the  Inquisition. 
They  tried  moreover,  at  a  later  date,  to  lessen  the  guilt 
of  their  conduct  by  mendaciously  stating  that  the 
Nuncio's  letter  arrived  too  late  for  consideration  :  an 
audacious  untruth,  since  we  have  the  Jesuits'  reply  to 
the  Nuncio,  and  we  know  that  the  judges  reminded 
them  of  the  Nuncio's  intervention  before  the  oath  was 
taken. 

To  the  end  of  this  miserable  business  their  conduct 
was  repulsive.  The  municipality  of  Thorn  was,  of 
course,  condemned  to  compensate  the  Society  for  the 
destruction  of  the  college,  and  they  secured  a  preposterous 
award  of  36,400  florins.  The  citizens  warmly  protested 
against  this  scandalous  and  onerous  award,  and  it  was 
eventually,  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  the  Jesuits,  reduced 
to  22,000  florins.  The  Jesuits,  we  are  assured  whenever 
they  plead  bankruptcy,  are  too  spiritual  to  be  good  men 
of  business,  but  their  attitude  in  regard  to  the  loss  of 
their  property  at  Thorn  was  not  weakened  by  spirituality. 
They  demanded  (and,  no  doubt,  needed)  8000  florins  in 


320  THE  JESUITS 

cash.  The  municipal  authorities  had  not  so  large  a  sum 
to  pay  them,  and  it  was  advanced  by  a  merchant  on  the 
security  of  the  plate  of  the  executed  Mayor  of  the  town. 
For  the  remainder  of  the  debt  the  Jesuits  took  the 
municipal  estates  of  Lonzyn  and  Wengorzyn.  They 
retained  these  profitable  estates  for  six  years,  and  only 
yielded  them  when  the  civic  authorities  paid  them  the 
full  capital  of  the  debt  with  6  per  cent,  interest  for  the 
intervening  years. 

The  situation  of  the    Jesuits   in    Holland  was,   we 
saw,    in    many    respects    similar   to   their   situation    in 
England,  but  the  fact  that  several  provinces  remained 
Roman  Catholic  gave  them  an  advantage  and  kept  the 
country  open  to  them.      Utrecht,  for  instance,  had  only 
joined  the  other  provinces  on  condition  that  full  liberty 
was    given    to    Catholics    and    Jesuits.       From    these 
Cathotic  districts  the  fathers  advanced  with  great  zeal 
upon  the  neighbouring  Protestant  population.      In  spite 
of   Jesuit   hatred   of  the   Dutch,   whom    they  represent 
throughout  the  seventeenth  century  as  the  arch-enemy, 
they  were  treated  with  indulgence  until  their  own  actions 
brought  punishment  on  them.     We  saw  that  there  was 
at   least  evidence  enough  to  convince  the   Dutch   that 
the    Jesuits   had    been    implicated    in   two   attempts    to 
assassinate  their  rulers,  and  when,  in  1638,  a  Catholic 
plot   to  admit   the    Spaniards  was  discovered,   another 
storm  against  the  Jesuits  arose.     Their  apologist  admits 
that  there  was  a  plot,  and  that  they  were  aware  of  it ; 
but  he  finds  no  evidence  that  they  were  parties  to  the 
plot.     The    evidence    on   which    the    Dutch  relied    was 
supplied  by  a  soldier,  and  is  not  in  itself  very  impressive  ; 
but  several  of  the  fathers  were  tortured  and  executed. 
The  feeling  seems  to  have  been  that  any  plot  to  intro- 
duce the    Spaniards  would   very  probably   be  of  Jesuit 
oricrin,  and   the  evidence  was  sufficient  in  the  circum- 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  321 

stances.      Few  will  seriously  feel  that  there  was  a  mis- 
carriage of  justice. 

The  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685, 
which  sent  numbers  of  persecuted  Huguenots  to  Eng- 
land and  Holland,  greatly  embittered  the  Dutch  and 
led  to  a  fresh  outburst  against  the  Jesuits.  They  had 
at  that  time  forty-five  residences  and  seventy-four  priests 
in  Holland,  but  their  prosperous  mission  was  almost 
destroyed  by  the  wave  of  anger  which  rolled  over  the 
country.  Severe  disabilities  were  laid  on  them,  the 
Protestant  crowds  threatened  their  property,  and  it  was 
rumoured  that  the  States-General  was  about  to  banish 
them.  It  is  interesting  to-day  to  compare  the  eloquent 
pleas  for  toleration  which  they  laid  before  the  Dutch 
with  the  private  letters  in  which  they  apprised  their 
French  colleagues  that  their  intolerance  had  brought 
the  affliction  on  them. 

The  storm  passed  without  very  serious  consequences, 
but  it  was  not  long  before  the  conduct  of  the  Jesuits 
again  endangered  their  mission.  We  have  already 
seen  that  from  the  time  when  the  Vatican  appointed  a 
bishop  to  control  the  missionary  priests  in  Holland  the 
Jesuits  conducted  an  extremely  selfish  crusade  against 
him.  They  maintained  this  opposition  throughout  the 
period  with  which  we  are  dealing.  Neercassel,  the 
Archbishop  of  Utrecht  and  Vicar  Apostolic,  complained 
to  Rome  of  their  behaviour  in  1669,  and  they  retorted 
with  the  familiar  charge  of  Jansenism.  Neercassel  was 
summoned  to  Rome,  but  Innocent  xi,  was  on  the  papal 
throne  and  the  Jesuits  lost.  They  did  not  relax  their 
opposition,  and  when  Peter  Codde  succeeded  Neer- 
cassel in  1686  (the  Jesuits  having  failed,  after  strenuous 
efforts,  to  get  a  friend  of  the  Society  appointed),  the 
feud  became  more  and  more  unedifying.  In  1702  they 
induced  the  Vatican  to  depose  him  and  substitute  a  more 
21 


322  THE  JESUITS 

congenial  prelate  named  Cock.  Codde  had  been 
friendly  with  Arnauld,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  an  unscrupulous  use  of  their  influence 
at  Rome  under  Clement  xi.  secured  his  deposition. 
They  could  not,  however,  induce  the  papal  authorities 
to  detain  Codde,  who  belonged  to  a  good  Dutch  family, 
in  the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition,  and,  when  he  returned 
to  his  country,  the  Government  took  up  his  case  against 

the  Jesuits. 

The  situation  they  had  brought  about  in  the  Church 

in  Holland   was  deplorable.     The  chapters  of  Utrecht 

and  Haarlem  refused  to  recognise  Cock  as  archbishop, 

and  the  faithful  were  in  a  state  of  confusion.      For  years 

the    Jesuits    had  jeered   at    the   divisions   amongst   the 

Protestants.     These    divisions   were  at   least   based  on 

considerations    of    belief,    and    the     Protestants    could 

heavily  retort  that  their  clergy,  of  any  one  denomination, 

had  never  been  rent  into  bitterly  hostile  factions  on  a 

mere  question   of   corporate   interest.     Codde   resumed 

his    ministry,    and   the    Jesuits,    aided    by    the   friendly 

Nuncio   at   Brussels,  supported  Cock  against  him.      In 

similar  circumstances  Queen  Elizabeth  had  assisted  the 

English    secular    clergy   against   the    Jesuits,    and    the 

Dutch  Government  decided  to  do  the  same.     Cock  was 

expelled,  and  four  of  the  leading  Jesuits  were  summoned 

before   the    States-General   (1705)  and   ordered  to   use 

their  influence  at  Rome  for  the  rehabitation  of  Codde 

or    else  leave    the  country.     The    Dutch   smiled   when 

the     Jesuits     protested     that     their     slender     influence 

would    not    sway  the   Vatican,  and,    when    a    negative 

answer  came  from  Rome,  they  were  proscribed.     They 

evaded   the  sentence,   but  in   1708    they  were  expelled 

from    the    whole    of    Holland    except    the    privileged 

Province  of    Utrecht.     When    the    resentment   of   the 

Dutch    cooled,    however,     they    crept    back    into    the 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  323 

country  and  ministered  stealthily  to  their  followers. 
Even  after  so  drastic  an  experience  they  continued  to 
lessen  the  merit  of  their  strenuous  and  danaerous 
labours  by  persistent  hostility  to,  and  abuse  o^f,  the 
rival  clergy. 

In  Belgium,  which  was  now  predominantly  Catholic 
and  had  only  passed  from  the  control  of  Catholic  Spain 
to  that  of  Catholic  Austria,  the  Jesuits  prospered  down 
to  the  time  of  the  suppression  of  the  Society.     The  last 
remnants  of  Protestantism  had  been  crushed  under  the 
heel  of  the  Spanish  soldiers  or  driven  to  Holland   and 
the  province  was  an  excellent   field   for  tranquil   work 
The  only  notable  episode  is  that,  in  their  eao-erness  to 
rise  above  the  other  clergy,  the   Jesuits  pressed  Rome 
to  apply  to  Belgium  the  famous  test  of  belief  which  had 
been  devised  for  the  "  Jansenists  "  of  France.     Arnauld 
had  many  admirers  in   Belgium,  and  the   University  of 
Louvain,  especially,   strongly  resented   the  prospect    of 
being   forced    to    say    that    there    were   in  the    obscure 
work    of    Bishop    Jansen   five  propositions  which  were 
not    there.       The    Archbishop    of    Malines    and    the 
Nuncio    were    won    by   the    Jesuits,    but   Innocent   xii 
hesitated    to    extend    that    miserable    struo-o-le    to    the 
peaceful    Belgian    Church.      The    Nuncio  "deliberately 
withheld     the    Popes    brief    until     the    Jesuits    made 
another    attempt    to    win    their    demand,    but    in    1694 
the  Pope  insisted    that    only   priests  who    were    found 
to    hold    the    five  propositions    in    question    should    be 
molested.     As  usual,  the  Jesuits  failed  to  find   any  one 
who  held  the  famous  propositions  and  the  matter  was 
abandoned. 

The  story  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  States  which  now 
form  the  German  Empire  and  in  Austria  has  not  yet 
been  systematically  written,  and  the  material  is  a  larae 
and  undigested  mass  of  laudatory  episodes  and  drasdc 


324  THE  JESUITS 

charo-es.^     In    Austria,    or   the    Holy   Roman    Empire, 
as  it''  was  then  called,  we  might  follow  the  fortunes  of 
the    Society    with    some   continuity,   but   it   would   add 
little,   in   regard  to    Jesuit  character,  to  what  we  have 
aathered    f^om    the    records    of    France,     Spain,    and 
Portugal.     The  central  and  most  important  fact  is  the 
continued  influence  of  the  Jesuit  confessors  at  the  court. 
Amongst  the  interesting  manuscripts  which  were  seized 
at  the'' time  of   the  suppression  of  the   Society  was  a 
document,  dating  from  the  time  of  General  Acquaviva, 
crivino-   royal    confessors  secret    instructions  as  to  their 
dutyT'  openly,  of  course,  the  Jesuit  rule  was  to  refuse 
such  offices  as  far  as  possible,  and  to  confine  themselves 
to  purely  spiritual  matters  if  the  office  was  accepted. 
These    instructions  make  the  confessor  a  spy  not  only 
on  the  monarch,  but  upon  his  ministers  and  civic  officials, 
and  direct  that  he  shall  obtain  information  even  about 
the  private  lives  of  his  principal   subjects.     We   know 
from    other   confiscated    manuscripts   which   have   been 
published  (especially  by  Bollinger  and  Reusch)  that  this 
information  was   regularly   sent   to   Rome,  and  that  at 
every    important  juncture   the   confessor,    who  used  to 
ask  the  monarch  for  time  to  consult  God  and  his  con- 
science, sent  a  secret  messenger  to  Rome  (or  consulted 
other  Jesuits)  and  acted  on  the  policy  of  the  Society. 

In  this  sense  the  Jesuits  controlled  the  policy  of 
Austria  to  a  great  extent  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries.  Father  Lamormaini,  confessor  to 
Ferdinand  ii.,  inspired  the  decree  for  the  restoration  of 
church-property  in  1629,  as  we  saw,  and  afterwards 
secured  the  best  portion  of  it  for  the  Jesuits  ;  to  whom 

1  The  Geschichte  der  Jesuiten  in  den  Ldndern  deutscher  zunge,  which 
the  German   Jesuits  are  publishing,  has  not  advanced   beyond   the   first 

^^"°pubhshed  by  the  Benedictine  monk  Dudik  in  the  Archivfiir  Oesterrei- 
chische  Geschichte,  vol.  liv.  p.  234. 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  325 

nothing  could  be  "restored,"  as  they  had  not  owned  any 
of  the  property.  In  the  following  year  Lamormaini 
practically  decided  the  dismissal  of  Wallenstein.  There 
was  no  question  of  importance  on  which  the  Emperor 
did  not  consult  him,  and  the  published  documents  show 
that  there  were  times  when  the  Jesuit,  acting  on  instruc- 
tions from  Rome,  advised  a  policy  which  would  profit 
France  rather  than  Austria;  in  1635,  for  instance,  he 
endeavoured  (in  vain)  to  induce  the  Emperor  to  cede 
Alsace  to  France.  We  have  a  large  number  of  the 
Emperor's  letters  to  Lamormaini,  and  they  show  that  the 
Jesuit  was  practically  first  minister,  in  secular  as  well  as 
spiritual  matters.  Other  Jesuits  were  attached  to  the 
princes  and  nobles,  and  the  natural  result  was  a  great 
increase  of  the  power  and  wealth  of  the  Society.  Once 
more  the  suppression  of  the  order  and  confiscation  of 
its  documents  have  provided  a  confirmation  of  the  suspi- 
cions of  historians.  J .  Friedrich  [Beitriige)  has  published 
some  of  the  confiscated  documents,  including  a  statement 
drawn  up  in  1729  by  the  Procurator  of  the  Province  of 
Upper  Germany,  Father  Bissel.  From  this  it  appears 
that  the  German  Province  of  the  Society  advanced  (at 
a  high  rate  of  interest)  262,208  guldens  to  the  Catholic 
Power  for  the  purposes  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  the 
Jesuit  college  at  Liege  200,000  guldens.  The  Jesuit 
treasurer  appends  the  remark  that  these  loans  must  be 
kept  strictly  secret,  as  a  disclosure  "  might  bring  ruin  on 
our  establishments." 

The  death  of  Ferdinand  11.  in  1637  made  no 
difference  in  the  position  of  the  Jesuits.  Ferdinand  iii. 
had  been  carefully  trained  by  them,  and  he  was  ever 
ready  to  endanger  the  welfare  of  his  Empire  and  disturb 
the  peace  of  his  subjects  by  furthering  the  designs  of  the 
Jesuits  in  the  Protestant  Provinces,  as  we  shall  see 
presently.      Leopold  i.,  who  succeeded  in   1657,  was  an 


326  THE  JESUITS 

even  more  fervent  pupil  of  the  Jesuits,  and  had  been 
destined  for  the  priesthood.  We  may  say,  in  a  word, 
that  the  Jesuits  retained  their  wealth  and  power  until, 
to  their  great  anger  and  disappointment,  the  Emperor 
Joseph  II.  light-heartedly  joined  the  other  Catholic 
monarchs  in  the  campaign  for  the  suppression  of  the 
Society,  and  even  Maria  Theresa  refused  to  plead  for 
them  with  the  Papacy.  At  that  time  their  property 
alone  was  worth  more  than  ^2,000,000,  but  the 
Government  discovered  that  they  had  anticipated  the 
dissolution  by  investing  large  sums  abroad.  It  is  there- 
fore impossible  to  estimate  their  real  wealth,  but  when 
we  add  to  the  income  from  their  vast  estates  the  salaries 
of  royal  and  noble  confessors,  the  fees  of  masses  and 
spiritual  exercises,  the  emoluments  of  university  and 
other  teachers,  and  the  very  generous  and  constant 
inflow  of  gifts  and  legacies,  we  realise  that  the  Austrian 
Jesuits  cannot  have  been  much  less  wealthy  than  those 
of  France  and  Spain. 

It  may  be  suggested  that  we  should  regard  this 
wealth  with  indulgence,  in  spite  of  the  Jesuit  vow  of 
poverty,  because  of  the  immense  educational  services 
which  the  Society  rendered  to  the  Empire.  Their 
school-system  has,  however,  been  heavily  criticised  by 
Austrian  writers,  and  even  in  the  height  of  their  power 
it  was  boldly  and  successfully  assailed  by  Austrian 
statesmen.  A  memorial  addressed  to  the  Empress 
Maria  Theresa  in  1757  insisted  that  all  the  universities 
had  deteriorated  since  they  had  been  captured  by  the 
Jesuits.  Two  years  later  (September  1 759)  the  Empress 
compelled  them  to  surrender  to  other  teachers  the  chairs 
of  logic,  ethics,  metaphysics,  and  history,  and  several 
chairs  of  theology,  which  they  held  at  the  Vienna 
University.  The  historian  of  the  university,  Kink,  fully 
confirms  this    statement    that  it   deteriorated  under  the 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  327 

control  of  the  Jesuits.  Indeed,  the  learned  Oratorian 
priest  Father  Theiner,  the  Prefect  of  the  Vatican 
Archives,  shows  in  his  Histoii^e  dii  Pontifical  de 
CUment  xiv.  that  in  other  ways  the  Jesuits  had  done 
grave  harm  to  culture  in  Catholic  Germany.  Their 
selfish  determination  to  monopolise  teaching  and  letters 
had  destroyed  the  intellectual  life  of  the  non-Jesuit  clergy, 
and  there  were  few  to  succeed  them  when  the  Society 
was  abolished.  We  shall  see  later  that  when  Frederick 
the  Great  annexed  Silesia,  where  the  German  Jesuits 
controlled  education,  he  disdainfully  advised  them  to 
send  to  France  for  some  abler  teachers. 

It  is  also  necessary  to  observe  that  a  large  number 
of  scandals  occurred  amonof  the  Austrian  and  German 
Jesuits,  especially  the  teachers.  The  subject  is  un- 
pleasant, but  pro-Jesuit  writers  are  so  insistent  on  the 
cleanness  of  their  record  that  it  cannot  be  entirely  over- 
looked. A  former  director  of  the  Bavarian  State 
Archives,  Dr.  Karl  Heinrich  von  Lang,  examined  the 
Jesuit  documents  under  his  care  at  Munich,  and  found, 
in  the  letters  of  the  Provincial  of  the  Upper  German 
Province  to  the  General,  an  alarming  number  of  charges 
of  unnatural  or  other  vice.  There  was  clearly  an  extra- 
ordinary amount  of  sexual  corruption  in  the  province  in 
the  period  he  reviews  (i 650-1 723),  and,  if  we  find  this 
to  be  the  case  where  it  happens  that  the  secret  docu- 
ments of  the  Society  have  come  into  our  hands,  we  must 
regard  with  grave  suspicion  the  claims  of  Jesuit  writers 
in  regard  to  provinces  of  which  we  have  not  similar 
information.^ 

Dr.  von  Lang  has  also  written  a  sketch  of  the  history 
of  the  Jesuits  in  Bavaria  iyGeschichte  der  Jesuiten  in 
Baiern,    1819),  and  we  have  a  picture  of  degeneration 

^  See,  especially,  the  sordid  details   in   Dr.  von  Lang's  Jacobi  Morelli, 
S.J.,  amores,  181 5. 


328  THE  JESUITS 

and  prosperity  as  in  so  many  other  countries.     We  saw, 
in    an    early    chapter,    the    unattractive   story   of   their 
settlement  in  Bavaria  and  coercion  of  the  Protestants. 
Before  and  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War  they  were  the 
most   ardent  instigators  of  Maximilian,  and,  when  the 
terror  of  the  Swedes  had  passed  away,  they  entered  upon 
a  period  of  great  prosperity  in  the  impoverished  country. 
When  Maximilian  died,  however,  in  1651,  some  attempt 
was  made  to  check  their  progress  by  the  statesmen  who 
knew  how  deeply  they  were  responsible  for  the  desola- 
tion of   Bavaria.      Members  of  a  rival  religious   order, 
the  Theatines,  were  patronised  by  the  Duchess  Maria, 
and    the    Jesuits    conducted    an    unedifying    campaign 
against  the  Theatines,  who  made  a  spirited  resistance. 
Each  body  accused    the   other   of  forging   miracles    in 
honour  of  its  saints.     Von  Lang  estimates  that  a  little 
after   the    middle    of  the    seventeenth  century  the  585 
members  of  the  Bavarian  branch  of  the  Society  enjoyed 
a  permanent  income  of  185,950  florins.     To  this,  how- 
ever,  we   must   add    fees,  salaries,    gifts,    and    legacies. 
Dr.  von  Lang  shows  that  between  1620  and  1700  large 
donations  amounting  to  800,000  florins  were    made  to 
the  Society,  often  at  the  suggestion  of  its  members. 

The  later  wealth  of  the  Jesuits  in  Bavaria  cannot 
be  estimated  as  the  larger  contributions  to  their  funds 
were  only  stated  in  strictly  secret  documents  which  have 
never  seen  the  light.  We  know  that  the  Society  pros- 
pered more  than  ever  in  the  eighteenth  century.  In 
1727  there  were  875  Jesuits  in  Bavaria  and  the  Tyrol, 
and  the  papers  confiscated  at  the  suppression  proved 
that  their  wealth  was  enormous.  Their  college  at 
Inorolstadt  alone  owned  hundreds  of  farms,  or  a  series  of 
estates  worth  about  3,000,000  florins.  A  dozen  other 
colleges  were  also  richly  endowed  with  landed  property. 
As    the    eighteenth     century     wore    on,    however,    the 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  329 

hostility  to  the  Jesuits  increased.  Protestants  were 
never  without  some  serious  ground  for  complaint  of 
Jesuit  controversy,  and  in  Bavaria  we  find  them 
accusing  the  Jesuits  (quite  justly)  of  recommending  the 
sons  of  Protestant  parents  to  steal  the  "  bad  books  "  of 
their  fathers  and  brine  them  to  the  colleo-e.  Catholics, 
on  the  other  hand,  complained  that  the  Jesuits  rendered 
no  material  service  in  proportion  to  their  great  wealth, 
and,  as  the  successive  messages  of  suppression  came 
from  Portugal,  France,  and  Spain,  their  opponents 
became  bolder.  The  Jesuits  so  little  expected  to  be 
disturbed  that  in  1770  they  created  a  separate  Bavarian 
province,  with  more  than  500  members.  Three  years 
later  they  were  secularised  and  dispersed  on  account  of 
the  suppression  of  the  Society. 

In  Protestant  Saxony  the  Jesuits  had  a  different  task. 
We  have  already  seen  how  they  instigated  Frederick 
Augustus,  after  he  had  purchased  the  Polish  crown  by  a 
change  of  faith,  to  adopt  the  principle  of  religious  in- 
tolerance in  Saxony.  The  heir  to  the  throne  was, 
however,  a  Protestant,  and  was  under  the  control  of 
Protestants,  and  the  Jesuits  had  to  ensure  that  the 
dynasty  should  be  Catholic.  This  was  not  in  the 
interest  of  Saxony,  which,  as  a  Protestant  State,  might 
have  taken  a  leading  position  in  Germany,  whereas,  in 
becoming  Catholic,  it  would  be  overshadowed  by  Austria 
and  Bavaria.  The  king  put  Jesuits  about  the  person 
of  the  prince,  and  he  was,  when  his  conversion  proved 
difficult,  sent  to  travel  in  Italy  in  the  company  of  two 
Jesuits.  He  was  a  mere  boy  of  sixteen.  His  father 
was,  however,  assured  that  he  might  not  only  ap- 
propriate a  large  amount  of  the  ecclesiastical  property 
taken  by  the  Protestants  at  the  Reformation,  but  papal 
troops  would  be  put  at  his  disposal  in  case  of  need  to 
silence   the    protests    of    his    Protestant    subjects.     In 


330  THE  JESUITS 

November  171 2  the  boy  was  "converted."  Father 
Salerno,  the  most  active  of  the  Jesuits  engaged  in  this 
important  business,  was  then  sent  to  Vienna  to  arrange 
a  marriage  with  an  Austrian  Archduchess,  and,  as  all 
children  of  the  marriage  were  to  be  Catholic,  the 
succession  was  secured.  As  the  present  condition  of 
Saxony  shows,  however,  the  Jesuits  did  not  in  this  case 
succeed  in  imposing  their  creed  by  royal  authority. 
Father  Salerno  was  rewarded  with — in  Jesuit  language, 
"  forced  "  to  accept,  against  his  inclination — a  cardinal's 
hat.  He  was  the  thirteenth  Jesuit  whose  modesty  had 
been  violated  by  the  papacy  in  this  way  since  1593.  to 
say  nothing  of  nuncii,  bishops,  and  other  prelates. 

The  resistance  of  Hungary  to  Jesuit  permeation  was 
protracted  and  heroic.  Protestantism  made  great  pro- 
gress in  Hungary  after  the  Reformation,  and  the 
emperors  looked  to  the  Jesuits  to  extirpate  it  in  that 
part  of  the  country  which  was  under  their  control. 
Ferdinand  11.  trusted  especially  to  their  educational 
influence,  but  Ferdinand  in.  and  Leopold  supported  the 
Jesuits  in  active  persecution  of  the  heretics.  Dr.  Krones  ^ 
has  minutely  studied  from  the  manuscript  Annual 
Letters  of  the  Society,  the  intrigues  by  which  the 
Jesuits  sought  to  regain  power  after  the  Peace  of  West- 
phalia. The  population  was  half  Protestant,  and  the 
emperors  were  unwilling  to  inflame  the  restless 
Hungarians  by  too  open  a  use  of  imperial  authority. 
The  most  assiduous  and  secret  manoeuvres  were  made 
by  the  Jesuits  to  influence  the  elections  and  secure  a 
legal  footing  in  the  country.  An  abortive  conspiracy  in 
1666  served  their  purpose  better.  In  the  general 
vindictiveness  of  the  Austrian  triumph  the  most  drastic 
measures  were  taken  against  the  Protestant  clergy.     A 

^  Archiv  fiir  oesterreichische  Geschkhie,  Bd.  79,  pp.  277-354  ;  and  Bd. 
80,  pp.  356-458. 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  331 

more  successful  rising  in  1 675-1 679  once  more  won 
toleration  for  the  Protestants  and  checked  the  Jesuits, 
and  they  seem  to  have  maintained  this  varying  campaign 
of  intrigue  and  coercion  and  failure  until  the  abolition 
of  the  Society. 

In    the    Catholic   cantons   of  Switzerland  we  have, 
naturally,  the  same  story  as  in  the  Catholic  States  :  a 
control  of  education,  a  determination  to  cast  into  the  shade 
the  remainder  of  the  Catholic  clergy,  and  a  scandalous 
and    enervating    material    prosperity.      Here    again    we 
have    obtained    a   very  interesting  glimpse  of  the  real 
condition    of  the  Society  by  the   publication    of  secret 
documents  which  were  confiscated   at  the  suppression. 
The  chronicle  of  the  Jesuit  college  at  Colmar  from  1698 
to  1750  was  fortunately  discovered  among  their  papers 
and  published  in  1872.^     It  is  a  most  remarkable  ledger 
or  diary  of  business  transactions,   displaying   on  every 
page  that  keen  instinct  for  commerce  and  high  profit  which 
the  Jesuits  are  always  so   anxious  to  disavow.     Vine- 
yards and  estates  pass  steadily  into  the    possession  of 
the    college,    indignant    and    disinherited    relatives   are 
fought    in  the  law-courts  or    met    by  compromise,  and 
the  liveliest  satisfaction  is  expressed  when  some  good 
bargain  has  been  made  with  the  property  or  the  vines 
have  proved  fertile.     A  Lutheran  in  1727  has  been,  in 
the    words    of    the    secret    Jesuit    chronicler,    "  simple 
enough  "  to  pay  a  substantial  rent  for  a  disused  cellar 
belonging  to  the  college  ;  in  the  same  year  a  pious  lady's 
executors  are  not  in  a  position  to  pay  a  legacy  to  the 
Jesuits  in  cash  and  they  take  saleable  goods;  in   1730 
three  fields  of  small  value  are  let  on  terms  which  suggest 
that    some    simple    Catholic    tenant    was    duped.     The 
whole  story  tells  of  keenness  in  securing  legacies,  astute- 
ness   in    the   profitable    handling   of  the  property  they 

^  Mdmoires  des  R.  R.  P.  P.  Jdsuites  du  College  de  Colmar. 


332  THE  JESUITS 

inherit  or  buy,  and  a  somewhat  hypocritical  readiness  to 
appeal  to  public  bodies  for  the  free  grants  which  they 
make  to  poor  individuals  or  communities.  The  college 
of  Colmar  was  a  business  concern  of  the  sharpest 
character. 

These  fragmentary  notices  of  the  life  of  the  Jesuits 
in  the  Germanic  countries  suffice  to  explain  that  growth 
of  hostility  which  culminates  in  the  destruction  of  the 
Society.  There  is  a  sharp  contrast  between  the  picture 
suggested  by  these  secret  Jesuit  documents  and  the 
picture  offered  to  us  by  writers  like  Cr6tineau-Joly  and 
Father  Duhr.  Few,  of  course,  would  be  so  naive  as 
not  to  understand  that  the  Jesuit  writers  carefully  select 
from  their  "unpublished  documents"  the  occasional 
letters  which  some  really  religious  Jesuit  writes  to  his 
fellows  or  his  superiors.  None  but  an  entirely  pre- 
judiced opponent  of  the  Jesuits  would  imagine  that  all 
the  members  of  any  province  of  the  Society  were  lacking 
in  moral  delicacy  and  deep  religious  feeling.  In  every 
age  and  clime  there  were  Jesuits  of  lofty  purpose,  great 
sincerity,  and  unselfish  activity  for  what  they  regarded 
as  the  good  of  man.  There  were  many  such  in  the 
long  calendar  of  the  Germanic  provinces.  But  the 
fortunate  accident  of  the  confiscation  of  their  papers  in 
many  places  enables  us  to  obtain  a  fuller  and  truer 
knowledge  of  the  body  than  we  get  from  this  one-sided 
admiration  of  its  more  religious  members  and  its  public 
professions.  As  a  body  the  Society,  in  Germany  as 
well  as  in  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  and  on  the  missions, 
was  deeply  tainted  with  casuistry,  covetousness,  intrigue 
for  wealth  and  for  power,  commercial  activity,  duplicity 
in  political  matters,  and  a  lamentable  attitude  toward 
rival  priests.  They  maintained  their  power,  not  so 
much  by  the  affection  of  the  people  as  by  the  hard-won 
favour  of  princes  and  prelates ;  and,  the  moment  these 


IN  THE  GERMANIC  LANDS  333 

princes  became  sensible  of  their  defects,  their  seemingly 
unassailable  prosperity  fell  with  a  crash,  to  the  delight 
of  half  of  Catholic  Europe.  It  remains  only  for  us  to 
glance  at  their  fortunes  in  Italy  until  the  year  when  the 
Pope,  whose  select  regiment  they  affected  to  be,  ratified 
the  action  of  kings  and  abolished  the  Society  of  Jesus 
**  for  ever," 


CHAPTER   XIII 
THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

The  blows  which  were  inflicted  on  the  Jesuits  by  the 
CathoHc  monarchs  of  Portugal,  Spain,  and  France 
during  the  eighteenth  century  are  historically  insig- 
nificant in  comparison  with  the  suppression  of  the  Society 
by  the  papacy.  It  is  easy  to  suggest  for  the  con- 
duct of  the  rulers  reasons  which  conceal  the  misdeeds 
of  the  Jesuits.  Was  not  Louis  xv.  an  immoral  and 
unscrupulous  ruler,  and  had  not  liberalism  pervaded 
every  stratum  of  higher  French  society  ?  Was  not 
Joseph  I.  of  Portugal  an  unprincipled  voluptuary,  an 
irresolute  pupil  of  a  minister  who  could  stoop  to  forgery  ? 
Was  not  Charles  of  Spain  deluded  by  a  sceptical 
minister  in  collusion  with  Pombal  and  Choiseul  ?  Did 
they  not  force  the  King  of  Naples  to  follow  their 
example,  and  win  the  Austrian  Emperor  with  the 
prospect  of  appropriating  the  vast  wealth  of  the  Society  ? 
So  the  excuses  run ;  and  it  is  added  that  these  com- 
bined monarchs  at  length  brought  such  pressure  to  bear 
upon  a  Pope,  whose  election  they  had  secured,  that, 
solely  for  the  sake  of  peace,  without  blaming  the  Jesuits, 
he  reluctantly  penned  the  famous  brief  of  abolition. 

We  have  seen  that  this  version  of  the  destruction  of 
the  Society,  as  far  as  the  Catholic  monarchs  are  con- 
cerned, may  have  some  ingenuity  in  the  pages  of  an 
apologist,  but  could  not  without  absurdity  be  put 
forward  as  history.     Definite,  grave,  and   irremediable 

334 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       335 

grievances  were  proved  against  the  Jesuits  in  each 
country  in  which  they  were  suppressed.  We  have  now 
to  see  that  the  last  part  of  the  apologetic  version  is 
equally  untrue.  It  is  not  true  that  the  Powers  secured 
the  election  of  Clement  xiv.  ;  it  is  not  true  that  he  was 
pledged  to  destroy  the  Society  ;  and  it  is  not  true  that 
he  destroyed  it  for  the  sake  of  peace,  without  pronounc- 
ing on  the  merit  of  the  charges  against  it.  We  shall 
find  rather  that  the  action  of  jClement. jay,  wasjthe 
naturaL^culminationjof  the  attitude  of  the  best  Popes 
toward  the-Society,  thaOL3^a"Oepreseff fe~d; Ky^h i rnlas 
such,  and  thatiin,  condemning. the  Society,  he  collected 
all  the  grave  charges  which  were  urged  against  it,  and 
endorsed  them  with  the  papal  authority.^ 

The  general  fortunes  of  the  Society  in  Italy  until  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  do  not  merit  detailed 
examination.  One  undistinguished  General  succeeded 
another  in  the  nominal  autocracy  of  the  supreme  office, 
but  the  policy  of  the  Society  was,  at  least  after  the  time 
of  Acquaviva,  dictated  by  the  assistants  and  abler  men 
at  Rome.  The  Society  of  Jesus  is  an  aristocracy,  not 
an  autocracy.  The  charge  of  despotism  is  not  unjust, 
if  we  do  not  forget  how  frequently  this  despotism  has 
been  checked  by  rebellious  "subjects,"  but  it  is  the 
despotism  of  a  few,  whose  decisions  are  published  by 
the  General.  An  incident  that  occurred  toward  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century  will  illustrate  this. 

By  that  time,  as  we  saw,  Pascal's  Letters  had 
drawn  the  disdainful  eyes  of  Europe  to  the  teaching  of 
Jesuit  casuists.  It  makes  little  difference  that  the  laxer 
of  these  moralists  were  but  a  few  among  the  countless 
theologians  of  the  Society,  because  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  Jesuits  taught  that,  in  case  of  a  moral  dilemma,  a 
man  might  act  on  the  opinion  of  a  single  casuist  against 
the  opinion  of  the  remainder.     It  is  true  that  they  added 


336  THE  JESUITS 

that  the  one  theologian  must  have  a  "grave  authority," 
but,  in  view  of  the  censorship  and  approval  of  the 
Society  in  each  case,  any  Jesuit  theologian  would  be 
regarded  by  admirers  of  the  Society  as  a  grave 
authority.  This  famous  principle  of  Probabilism — the 
theory  that  one  might  follow  a  "probable"  opinion  in 
matters  of  moral  guilt  against  "  more  probable  "  opinions 
— which  had  been  adopted  and  almost  appropriated  by 
the  Jesuits,  gave  great  scandal,  in  view  of  the  laxity  of 
some  of  their  prominent  casuists,  and  at  length  a  number 
of  fathers  assailed  it  and  tried  to  remove  the  stigma  from 
the  Society. 

The  most  notable  of  these  reformers  was  Father 
Thyrsus  Gonzalez  de  Santalla,  an  able  professor  at 
Salamanca  University.  About  the  year  1670  he 
composed  a  Latin  treatise  on  "  The  right  use  of 
probable  opinions,"  and  sent  it  to  Rome  for  examination 
and  approval.  The  authorities  refused  to  sanction 
publication,  but  in  1676  Innocent  xi.,  who  frowned  on 
the  laxity  of  the  Jesuit  casuists,  heard  of  the  rejected 
manuscript  and  sent  for  it.  Through  the  Inquisition  the 
Pope  then  (in  1680)  urged  Gonzalez  to  publish  the  book, 
and  communicated  to  General  Oliva  a  decree  to  the 
effect  that  no  father  was  to  be  prevented  from  teaching 
Probabiliorism,  and  that,  on  the  contrary,  none  was  to 
be  allowed  to  defend  Probabilism.  General  Oliva  drew 
up  a  circular  embodying  the  Pope's  commands,  which  he 
was  ordered  to  convey  to  his  subjects,  respectfully 
submitted  it  to  the  cardinals  of  the  Inquisition,  and 
then — suppressed  it.  Oliva  died  in  1681,  his  successor, 
Father  de  Noyelle,  died  in  1686,  and  Gonzalez  himself 
was  sent  to  Rome  to  take  part  in  the  election  of  1687. 
The  Pope  welcomed  him  and  intimated  that  he  ought  to 
be  raised  to  the  generalship,  to  save  the  Society  from 
the  "abyss"  into  which  it  was  plunging.      In  spite  of  the 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       337 

fierce  opposition  of  the  Probabilists,  he  was  elected  by 
a  narrow  majority,  and  in  1691  he  sent  to  the  press  his 
Latin  treatise. 

The  Assistants  or  Councillors  of  the  General  now 
asserted  their  power.  They  threatened  their  General 
that,  if  he  did  not  withdraw  the  work,  they  would  warn 
the  heads  of  all  the  Provinces  of  the  Society  of  the 
danger  he  would  bring  on  them.  Father  Gonzalez 
offered  to  omit  his  name  from  the  title-page  and  cut  out 
a  particularly  obnoxious  section  of  the  work,  but  they 
sternly  refused  the  compromise.  He  published,  and 
they  denounced  their  General  to  the  Pope  for  issuing  a 
theological  work  without  papal  authorisation.  There 
was  now  so  fierce  a  controversy  in  the  Society  that  the 
Pope  suspended  the  sale  of  the  book,  and  remitted  the 
affair  to  the  triennial  Congregation  of  Jesuit  Procurators 
in  1693.  -^  feverish  intrigue  and  a  number  of  heated 
pamphlets  from  experienced  Jesuit  pens  prepared  the 
way  for  the  Congregation,  and,  when  it  assembled,  it 
voted  for  the  calling  of  an  extraordinary  General  Con- 
gregation. Numbers  of  them  were  threatening  to  have 
Gonzalez  deposed.  The  Pope,  however,  declared  their 
vote  invalid,  and  the  book  was  published ;  but  his 
"subjects" — whom  so  many  regard  as  corpses  in  the 
hands  of  a  despotic  General — persecuted  and  assailed 
Gonzalez  until  his  death. ^ 

The  interest  of  the  Italian  Jesuits  is  almost  confined 
to  Rome  during  this  period.  They  were  now  so 
wealthy  and  powerful  throughout  Italy  that  they  held 
in  check  the  opposing  elements,  and  we  find  few  of  those 
interesting  episodes  which  saved  their  earlier  career  from 
monotony.  In  1656  they  secured  permission  to  return 
to  Venice,  the    last  stronghold  of  their  enemies.     The 

^  See  a  full  account  in  DoUinger  and  Reusch's   Geschichte  der  Moral- 
streitigkeiten  in  der  Romisch-Katholischeti  Kirche  (1889),  i.  120-273. 
22 


338  THE  JESUITS 

dwindling    commerce     of     Venice     was     now    gravely 
menaced  by  the  Turks,  and  the  Jesuits  did  not  scruple 
to  fan   the  zeal  of  the   Turks.     By   the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth    century,    Venice   was    hard    pressed,    and 
compelled  to  look  for   assistance.      It   is   said  that   the 
Jesuits    paid    a    handsome    sum    to    the    impoverished 
Republic  ;  it  is  at  least  true,  and  is  the  same  thing  in 
principle,  that  the  Pope  promised  assistance  on  condition 
that  the  doors  were  opened  to  the  Jesuits.     The  dire 
oaths  never   to    readmit   them   were  reluctantly  erased, 
and    the    fathers    soon    restored    their   old    prosperity. 
Although  wholesome  jets  of  criticism   were  constantly 
directed  against  them,  especially  at  Rome,  they  flourished 
throughout  Italy  much  as  they  did  in  Spain  and  Portugal. 
Hardly   a    year  elapsed  without  some  dying  noble  be- 
queathing them  a  palace  or  a  country  house,  or  some 
small   town  being  induced   to  invite   them  to    found   a 
college ;  and  when  plague  or  earthquake  or  famine  deso- 
lated the   land,  and  they  recovered  their  heroic  mood, 
a  shower  of  blessings  and  benefactions  fell  upon  them. 

Only  one  serious  calamity  overtook  them  during  the 
period  we  are  surveying.  Toward  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century  there  was  a  violent  quarrel  between 
the  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies  and  the  Pope  ;  always  one 
of  the  most  painful  dilemmas  for  the  Society.  The  King 
claimed  a  high  spiritual  authority,  and  the  bishops, 
supported  by  the  Papacy,  placed  an  interdict  on  large 
areas  of  Sicily.  The  civil  power  retorted  with  a  decree 
of  banishment  against  the  clergy  who  obeyed  the  Pope, 
and  part  of  the  Jesuits  incurred  the  sentence.  Later, 
when  Victor  Amadeo  received  the  island  and  promised 
conciliatory  conduct,  the  Jesuits  reopened  their  churches  ; 
but  they  were  directed  from  Rome  to  close  them,  and 
were  again  exiled.  Spain  then  resumed  control  of  Sicily, 
and  reinstated  them. 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       339 

In  the  year  1705,  Gonzalez  died,  and  the  learned 
Tamburini  succeeded  him.  At  that  time  the  scandal  of 
the  Jesuit  concessions  in  India  and  China  was  added,  in 
the  literature  of  their  opponents,  to  the  scandals  of  the 
American  missions,  and  the  Papacy  was  being  forced  to 
act.  In  i7ioand  1715,  Clement  xi.  sternly  condemned 
their  practices,  and  the  Roman  Jesuits  could  do  no  more 
than  represent,  inaccurately,  that  their  missionaries  had 
submitted.  The  next  Pope,  Innocent  xiii.,  found  that 
this  was  untrue,  and  again  severely  condemned  them  ; 
but  he  was  followed  by  several  complaisant  Pontiffs,  and 
the  Society  continued  its  irregular  ways  in  all  parts  of 
the  globe.  Edifying  utterances  on  the  part  of  the 
Roman  authorities  were  not  wanting.  Tamburini  died 
in  1730,  and  at  the  Congregation  which  followed  one  of 
the  decrees  severely  enacted  that  the  fathers  of  the 
Society  must,  in  every  part  of  the  world,  avoid  "even 
the  appearance  of  commerce,"  and  refrain  from  violence 
in  attacking  their  opponents.  No  one  knew  better  than 
these  rulers  of  the  Society  the  industrial  and  commercial 
system  which  was  then  followed  everywhere  by  the 
fathers,  and  the  devices  by  which  they  silenced  their 
critics ;  yet  no  effort  whatever  was  made  to  enforce  the 
decree. 

Benedict  xiv.  came  to  the  papal  throne  in  1740,  and 
put  an  end  to  the  intrigues  of  the  Society  in  the  Roman 
courts  for  a  time.  His  bulls  of  1742  and  1744,  sternly 
condemning  their  contumacious  conduct  in  India  and 
China,  struck  a  heavy  blow  at  two  of  their  most  profit- 
able missions ;  but  their  American  missions  were  veiled 
by  the  optimist  assurances  of  France,  Spain,  and  Portugal  ; 
and,  when  Lawrence  Ricci  became  General  of  the  Society 
in  1758,  there  was  little  ground  for  serious  anxiety. 
Indeed,  Benedict  xiv.  died  in  that  year,  and  a  friendly 
Pope,    Clement   xiii.,  an    Italian    noble  of  conciliatory 


340  THE  JESUITS 

temper,  received  the  tiara.  By  that  time  (according  to 
a  list  pubHshed  in  1750)  the  Society  had  22,589  members, 
of  whom  11,293  were  priests.  These  were  distributed 
in  669  colleges  and  945  residences  of  less  importance  ; 
it  is  singular,  and  characteristic  of  the  Society,  that  there 
were  only  24  "houses  of  the  professed"  to  22,000  mem- 
bers, and  that  one  half  these  members  were  not  priests. 

One    cloud    rested   on  the   horizon  when    Lawrence 
Ricci  became   General;  but   even   the   most  timid  and 
despondent  observer  could  not  have  ventured  to  suggest 
that  he  was  destined  to  be  the  last  successor  of  Ignatius. 
It  had  been  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  courts  that  the  Jesuits  had  inspired  the  revolt 
in  Paraguay,  and  Pombal  had  begun  his  campaign  against 
the  Society.      The  accession  of  Clement  xiii.  in  July 
reassured  the  Jesuits,  but  in  September  of  that  year  the 
news  came  of  the  attempt  to  assassinate  the   King^  of 
Portugal,  and  a  few  months  later  a  number  of  the  leading 
Portuguese  Jesuits  were  in  jail.     From  that  moment  the 
doom'^of  the  fathers  was  sealed  in  Portugal,  and  their 
efforts  were  chiefly  directed  to  restricting  the  contagious 
area.     Clement  was  encouraged  to  resist  the  Portuguese, 
and  the  Spanish  court  was  induced  to  regard  Pombal  as 
a  slanderer.      In  France,  however,  the  famous  Lavalette 
case  had  recently  occurred,  and  a  very  ominous  wave  of 
indignation    against   the    Jesuits    was  rising.     Choiseul 
was  now  known  to  be  leagued  with  Pombal  in  hostility 

to  the  Society. 

Ricci,  a  Florentine  noble  by  birth,  a  man  of  quiet  and 
cultivated  taste,  was  not  an  ideal  ruler  for  such  a  period, 
but  as  the  clouds  gathered  thicker  he  threw  all  his  energy 
into  the  combat.  Before  the  end  of  the  year  1759  he 
had  to  make  provision  for  the  thousands  of  Portuguese 
Jesuits  whom  Pombal  cynically  flung  upon  the  shores  of 
Italy.      In  the  following  year  the  French  courts  began 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       341 

to  condemn  the  Society  to  pay  the  debts  of  Lavalette, 
and  in  1761  the  Parlement  of  Paris  condemned  the 
Society  and  began  the  work  of  repression.  In  the  fiery 
controversy  which  now  filled  all  the  Catholic  countries  of 
Europe  every  questionable  episode  in  the  history  of  the 
Society,  and  probably  much  that  had  been  added  to  the 
historical  facts,  was  discussed  and  advertised.  Myriads 
of  pamphlets  fed  the  sensations  of  the  people,  and  for 
the  first  time  since  the  early  years  of  Ignatius  the  Jesuits 
cowered  before  the  storm  of  obloquy.  In  1764,  Louis  xv. 
signed  the  decree  for  the  abolition  of  the  Society  in 
France,  and  by  1767  the  Italian  provinces  were  once 
more  swamped  with  crowds  of  fugitives. 

Charles  iii.  of  Spain  had  so  far  firmly  resisted  the 
arguments  of  Pombal,  but  in  the  spring  of  1766  the 
Jesuits  of  Madrid  had  drawn  on  themselves  the  suspicion 
of  having  inspired  a  revolt  against  the  royal  authority, 
and  it  would  be  reported  to  Ricci  that  the  monarch  was 
sombre  and  inaccessible.  As  the  year  proceeded  (and, 
as  we  now  know,  Aranda  completed  his  case  against  the 
order),  increasingly  gloomy  messages  would  come  from 
the  Spanish  court,  and  in  the  early  days  of  April  1767 
the  news  came  from  the  coast  that  6000  Spanish  Jesuits 
were  tossing^  homeless  on  the  waters.  Taking;  the 
colonies  into  account,  the  Society  had  now  been  destroyed 
in  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  Christian  world,  and  a 
stupendous  amount  of  its  property  had  been  confiscated. 
Moreover,  it  was  now  known  that  the  French,  Spanish, 
and  Portuguese  were  pressing  the  Pope  to  abolish  the 
Society;  and,  at  least  from  the  middle  of  1767,  the 
prospect  of  that  terrible  contingency  was  discussed 
throughout  the  clerical  world  at  Rome. 

Before  the  end  of  1767  the  work  began  on  Italian 
soil.  Charles  in.  had  passed  from  Naples  to  the  throne 
of  Spain,  and  he  had  left  that  kingdom  in  the  charge  of 


342  THE  JESUITS 

a  liberal  minister,  Tanucci,  under  the  rule  of  his  son 
Ferdinand  iv.  Little  pressure  was  needed  by  the 
Neapolitans.  On  the  3rd  of  November  1767  the  Jesuit 
houses  were  surrounded,  the  papers  seized,  and  the 
fathers  banished  from  Southern  Italy.  A  few  months 
later  it  was  the  turn  of  Parma,  and  in  April  the  fathers 
were  driven  from  Malta,  as  the  Grand  Master  was  a 
feudatory  of  the  King  of  Naples.  Whether  the  idea 
came  from  the  Jesuits  or  no  we  cannot  say,  but  the  Pope 
concluded  that,  in  the  case  of  Parma,  he  might  retaliate. 
He  revived  an  old  pontifical  claim  to  the  duchy,  annulled 
the  sentence  against  the  Jesuits,  and  excommunicated 
those  who  had  banished  them.  The  allies  prompdy 
replied  ;  France  seized  Avignon,  and  Naples  occupied 
Benevento  and  Ponte  Corvo,  of  the  Papal  States. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that,  on  the  2nd  of  February 
1769,  Clement  xiii.  found  relief  in  death,  and  the  historic 
struggle  over  the  succession  to  the  papal  throne  began. 
On  the  result  of  that  election  the  fate  of  the  Society  would 
depend,  and  Jesuits  and  anti-Jesuits  hurried  to  the  arena 
and  used  every  means  in  their  power  to  influence  the 
issue.  But  the  Jesuits  and  their  friends  have,  not  un- 
naturally, published  as  fact  every  faint  echo  of  gossip 
in  connection  with  the  election,  in  order  to  weaken  the 
significance  of  their  suppression  by  the  Pope  elected ; 
and  it  must  be  examined  with  great  care.^ 

1  Two  works  will  give  the  reader  ample  material  for  forming  an  idea  on 
the  subject.  From  the  Jesuit  side  there  is  Cre'tineau-Joly's  work,  CI^me7it 
XIV.  et  les  Jcsuites  (1847),  though  the  work  is  little  more  that  a  reproduction 
of  the  fifth  volume  of  the  same  writer's  Histoire  .  .  .  de  la  Compagnie  de 
Jesus,  and  is  quite  unprincipled  in  many  of  its  statements.  The  other  work 
{Histoire  du  pontificat  de  Clement  xiv.,  1852)  is  a  reply  to  the  preceding, 
written  by  the  learned  and  conscientious  Prefect  of  the  Vatican  Secret 
Archives,  Father  Theiner.  Both  contain  copious  extracts  from  contemporary 
documents,  especially  the  correspondence  of  the  ambassadors.  The  work  of 
St.  Priest,  Histoire  de  la  chute  des  Jesuites,  is  interesting  and  lively,  but 
gossipy  and  unreliable. 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       343 

Clement  xiii.  died  on  2nd  February,  and  the  Italian 
cardinals,  especially  those  of  the  Papal  States,  tried  to 
elect  a  new  Pope  before  the  distant  and  anti- Jesuit 
Powers  could  send  their  cardinals  and  assert  their  in- 
fluence. They  opened  the  conclave  on  15th  February, 
and  nearly  succeeded  in  electing  Cardinal  Chigi.  It  is 
natural  to  suspect,  and  is  emphatically  affirmed,  that  the 
Jesuits  induced  them  to  take  this  irregular  step,  and  we 
know  that  General  Ricci  was  at  the  time  hastening 
feverishly  from  one  prelate  to  another.  We  may  be 
quite  sure  that  the  Jesuits  used  what  influence  they  had 
to  secure  a  premature  election,  but  there  is  another 
element  to  be  considered.  The  cardinals  were,  in  the 
phrase  of  the  hour,  divided  into  zelanti  and  antizelanti  : 
cardinals  who  resented  the  interference  of  lay  Powers 
in  the  aflairs  of  Rome,  and  cardinals  who  thought  it 
politic  to  consult  the  wishes  of  the  Catholic  monarchs. 
Besides  these  two  schools,  however,  there  were  many 
cardinals  who  did  not  adopt  a  decisive  attitude,  and  were 
disposed  to  be  guided  by  the  course  of  events,  or  at  least 
indisposed  to  meet  the  violent  anger  of  France,  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  Naples. 

When,  therefore,  the  Marquis  d'Aubeterre,  the 
French  ambassador,  and  Mgr.  Azpuru,  the  representa- 
tive of  Spain — the  Portuguese  ambassador  did  not 
arrive  until  a  later  date — protested  in  the  names  of 
their  sovereigns,  and  demanded  that  the  conclave  should 
be  postponed  until  the  French  and  Spanish  cardinals 
arrived,  the  majority  of  the  cardinals  were  intimidated, 
and  the  zelanti  were  forced  sullenly  to  quit  their  cells 
in  the  Vatican.  Cardinal  Rezzonico,  a  nephew  of  the 
late  Pope,  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  zelanti.  In  the 
course  of  March,  Cardinal  Luynes  and  Cardinal  Bernis 
arrived  from  France.  The  former  was  a  mere  voter, 
but  Bernis — a  suave,  conceited,  ambitious  prelate,  who 


344  THE  JESUITS 

sought  the  place  of  French  ambassador  at  Rome— had 
been  flattered  by  the  French  authorities  into  the  beHef 
that  the  issue  of  the  election  and  the  fate  of  the  Jesuits 
depended  mainly  on  him,  and  he  applied  his  small 
powers  to  the  intrigue  with  great  zeal.  Before  the  end 
of  April  the  Portuguese  ambassador,  Mendoza,  and  the 
two  Spanish  cardinals  arrived,  and  Rome  throbbed 
with  discussion  and  intrigue.  The  anti-Jesuits  had  a 
nucleus  of  six  Neapolitan,  two  Spanish,  and  two  French 
cardinals,  and  the  problem  was  to  secure  a  majority  for 
their  cause  among  the  forty  voters. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that   they  won  the   indifferent 
cardinals,  partly  by  bribery  and  partly  by  intimidation  ; 
but  Father  Theiner  denies  bot'^  charges.     We  have,  in 
fact,  the  private  assurance  of  Bernis  to  his  government, 
which  seems   to    have    contemplated    bribery,    that    the 
cardinals  of  that  particular   conclave  were  all  religious 
men  and  incorruptible.      At  the  most,  we  may  be^  dis- 
posed to  admit  that  the  fact  that  some  of  the  cardinals 
had  property  in    the    Provinces  seized    by  France   and 
Naples  inclined  them  to   gratify  the    Powers.       As    to 
intimidation,  it  seems  clear  that  the  ambassadors  urged 
upon  individual  voters   the   grave  danger   of  opposing 
the  wishes  of  the  Catholic  monarchs  ;  but  Father  Theiner 
denies  that  such  arguments  were  used  in  the  conclave 
Itself.     One  would  imagine  that  they  were  superfluous. 
Every  cardinal  knew  that  the  four  Catholic  kings  sternly 
msisted  on  the  relief  of  Parma  and  the  suppression  of 
the  Society,  and  could  not  but  reflect  on  the  possible 
consequences  of  electing  a  pro-Jesuit  Pope. 

Cretineau-Joly  represents  that  the  Society  and  the 
cardinals  in  favour  of  it  had  the  support  of  Maria 
Theresa,  and  that  she  sent  Count  Kaunitz  to  Rome  to 
express  his  support.  He  maintains  that  it  was  only 
after  the  other  Catholic  monarchs  had  tempted  Joseph 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       345 

ir,,  her  son  and  Emperor,  to  covet  the  property  of  the 
Society,  that  she  reluctantly  yielded.  This  is  so  demon- 
strably false  as  to  incur  the  suspicion  of  untruth. 
Cardinal  Bernis  wrote  to  his  court  on  28th  March  1769, 
long  before  the  conclave,  that  Maria  Theresa  refused  to 
support  the  demand  for  the  suppression  of  the  Jesuits, 
but  "  could  not  oppose,  and  would  even  be  glad  to  see 
it";  so  the  Emperior  Joseph  11.  stated.  In  September 
of  the  same  year  the  Nuncio  at  Vienna  gave  the  same 
report.  Joseph  11.  himself  came  to  Rome  in  March  ( 1 769), 
and  the  Jesuits  clearly  learned  his  attitude.  When  he 
visited  their  famous  church,  the  Gesu,  General  Ricci 
hastened  to  greet  him,  and  was  jocularly  asked  "when 
he  was  going  to  change  his  coat."  Later,  when  they 
stood  before  the  solid  silver  statue  of  Ignatius,  and  Ricci 
explained  that  it  was  due  to  gifts  of  friends  of  the 
Society,  Joseph  observed  :  "  Say,  rather,  to  the  profits 
on  your  Indian  missions."  And  the  Jesuits  would 
further  learn  that,  when  the  Emperor  visited  the  Vatican, 
he  urged  the  cardinals  to  elect  another  Benedict  xiv. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  visit  of  Count  Kaunitz  was  in 
the  following  year,  long  after  the  attitude  of  Maria 
Theresa  was  known.  She  never  wavered  in  her 
position,  as  she  expressed  it  to  Clement  xiv.  after  the 
suppression  ;  she  had  no  idea  of  opposing  or  disapprov- 
ing what  the  Pope  thought  necessary.  Austria  was 
lost  to  the  Jesuits.  Only  a  few  small  and  unimportant 
rulers  could  be  induced  to  plead  for  them. 

The  more  difficult  problem  of  the  opponents  of  the 
Jesuits  was  to  discover  a  cardinal  who  might  be  trusted 
to  destroy  the  Society,  yet  would  have  some  chance  of 
election.  The  Spanish  ambassador  proposed  that  a 
cardinal  should  be  induced  to  en^ao-e  himself  to  abolish 
the  Society  if  he  were  elected.  For  a  time  the  French 
ambassador    favoured    the    idea,    but    Cardinal    Bernis 


346  THE  JESUITS 

strongly  opposed  it ;  and  there  is  ample  proof  that  it  was 
abandoned  before  the  end  of  April.  There  is,  therefore, 
no  serious  ground  whatever  for  the  charge  that  Cardinal 
Ganganelli  promised  to  destroy  the  Society  if  he  were 
elected,  as  the  French  historian  is  compelled  to  admit. 
The  only  question  is  whether  Ganganelli  gave  a  written 
assurance  to  the  Spaniards  that  in  his  opinion  a  Pope 
had  the  power  to  destroy  the  Society,  General  Ricci 
had  issued  a  pamphlet  in  which  he  contended  that  the 
Pope  had  no  power  to  abolish  the  Society,  and  it  would 
assuredly  not  be  a  serious  matter  for  a  cardinal  to  ex- 
press his  opinion  on  that  point.  But  it  seems  that 
Ganganelli  made  no  statement  to  the  Spaniards.  Some 
jealousy  had  arisen  between  the  representatives  of  Spain 
and  France,  and  the  Spaniards  vaguely  boasted  to 
Bernis  of  having  had  some  communication  with  Gan- 
ganelli. Bernis  reported  that  they  had  some  written 
assurance  from  him,  but  in  later  letters  (ignored  by  the 
French  historian)  he  retracts.  On  19th  July  he  wrote 
that  he  may  have  been  mistaken  :  on  30th  November 
he  acknowledged  that  he  was  wholly  mistaken,  and 
there  had  been  no  "arrangement"  between  the 
Spaniards  and  Ganganelli.  The  results  of  the  voting, 
which  are  given  by  Theiner,  confirm  this.  The  sup- 
posed arrangement  or  assurance  would  have  to  be  dated 
15th  or  1 6th  May,  yet  Ganganelli  received  just  the  same 
number  of  votes  (10)  on  14th,  15th,  i6th,  17th  May. 

The  truth  is  that  no  one  knew  what  Ganganelli 
would  do  if  he  became  Pope.  Formerly  a  Franciscan 
monk,  he  was  a  man  of  sincere  piety  and  unquestioned 
integrity.  It  is  said  that  he  was  ambitious,  and  attempted 
to  secure  the  votes  of  both  parties  by  remarking  to  one 
group  that  it  was  dangerous  to  offend  the  Catholic 
monarchs,  and  to  the  other  that  it  was  impossible  to 
sacrifice  the  Society.     This  is  mere  gossip.      He  was  an 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       347 

elderly  man — in  his  sixty-fifth  year — of  high  character 
and  great   ability.     The    Jesuit   Cordara   tells   us   that 
Ricci  had  urged  Clement  xiii.  to  give  him  the  purple, 
and  he  had  always   been    on    friendly    terms   with    the 
Jesuits.      There   is    not    the    least   serious   ground   for 
charging   him    with   acting   improperly,   and   we    know 
that,  on  19th  May,  he  was  elected  by  a  unanimous  vote. 
Both  parties  now  assailed  the  Vatican,  and  engaged 
officials  in  its  service  to  report  to  them  the  movements 
of  their  opponents  and  the  moods  of  the  Pope.      It  is 
difficult  to    conceive  an  elderly  friar   as  having  sought 
with  deliberate  ambition  the  position  in  which  the  new 
Pope    would    find   himself.       The   ambassadors    of   the 
Powers  at  once  renewed  their  demand  for  the  abolition 
of  the  Society,  while  the  Jesuits  and  their  friends  and 
spies  maintained  a  sombre  vigilance.     Whichever  way 
the  Pope  acted  he  would  incur  a  fierce  and  dangerous 
resentment.     Clement  xiv.  was  not  the  man  to  sell  his 
conscience  for  the  restoration  of   Avignon,   Benevento, 
and  Ponte  Corvo  ;  but  the  retention  of  these  places  would 
not  be  the  only,  or  the  most    serious,  consequence   of 
disappointing  the  Powers.     On  the  other  hand,  he  knew 
the  history  and  principles  of  the  Jesuits.      It  is  said  that 
he   put   his    kitchen    in    the    charge   of  a   friar   of  the 
Franciscan  order.     Whether   or  no   it    is   true   that  he 
feared  poison,  he  would  know  that  the  Jesuits  would  not 
meekly  submit  to  a  sentence  of  death,  and  the  last  years 
of  his  life  would  be  full  of  trouble. 

To  the  representatives  of  the  Powers  the  Pope  replied 
that  he  would  take  no  step,  and  would  give  no  encourage- 
ment to  either  side,  until  he  had  made  a  thorough  inquiry 
into  the  matter.  The  Jesuits,  however,  soon  perceived, 
or  imagined,  that  Clement  favoured  the  Powers.  Twice 
in  the  two  months  after  the  election,  General  Ricci 
presented  himself  at  the  Vatican,  as  it  was  customary 


348  THE  JESUITS 

for  the  heads  of  religious  orders  to  do  on  the  chief 
festivals  of  the  order,  and  twice  had  he  to  depart  with- 
out seeing  the  Pope.  He  increased  his  vigilance  and 
activity,  and  the  ambassadors  had  to  adopt  various  ruses 
to  conceal  their  intercourse  with  the  Pope ;  Bernis  had 
now  become  ambassador,  and  was  eager  to  justify  his 
appointment.  In  July  the  spirits  of  the  Jesuits  re- 
vived, and  it  was  the  turn  of  the  courts  to  fret  and  fume. 
Clement  had  issued  a  brief  giving  certain  sacerdotal 
powers  for  seven  years  to  the  Jesuit  missionaries  who 
were  just  starting  for  the  foreign  missions.  The  Jesuits 
printed  the  brief  and  triumphantly  scattered  copies  over 
Europe  ;  the  ambassadors  angrily  protested  that  this  was 
to  flout  the  wishes  of  their  monarchs.  In  point  of  fact, 
there  was  not  the  least  reason  to  attach  importance  to 
the  brief.  It  was  merely  the  observance  of  a  form  that 
was  customary  at  the  departure  of  missionaries,  and  to 
have  omitted  it  on  this  occasion  would  have  been  a  very 
grave  and  premature  indication  of  an  intention  to  abolish 
the  Society. 

However,  the  impolitic  rejoicing  of  the  Jesuits  com- 
pelled the  Pope  to  make  some  concession  to  their 
opponents.  It  was  customary  to  republish  every  year 
the  bull  In  CcB7ia  Domini  which  a  friendly  predecessor 
had  issued  in  favour  of  the  Society.  Clement  declined 
to  sanction  its  republication  in  1769,  and  another  ripple 
of  excitement  ran  over  Europe.  In  some  places  the 
Jesuits  printed  and  published  the  bull  themselves,  and 
added  another  indiscretion  to  the  account  against  them. 
A  third  and  more  serious  error  was  committed  by  them. 
The  ambassadors  pressed  more  eagerly,  and,  as  Bernis 
reports  to  his  court,  the  Pope  replied  with  dignity  that 
he  must  consult  his  honour  and  his  conscience,  and 
make  a  prolonged  inquiry  before  deciding.  Choiseul 
threatened  that  the  ambassadors  would  be  withdrawn  if 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       349 

the  Pope  did  not  give  them  a  written  assurance  within 
two  months,  and  Clement  again  sternly  refused.  France 
offered  to  restore  Avignon  if  he  would  give  the  assur- 
ance, and  only  excited  his  indignation.  This  is  the 
Pope  whom  the  Jesuits  and  their  apologists  represent 
as  morally  and  intellectually  perverse  ;  yet  they  them- 
selves betrayed,  and  betray,  a  considerable  degree  of 
unscrupulousness  in  the  matter.  Cretineau-Joly,  ignor- 
ing its  inconsistency  with  his  whole  narrative,  quotes  a 
letter  in  which  Clement  is  supposed  to  tell  Louis  xv. 
that  he  will  not  abolish  a  Society  that  has  had  the 
blessing  of  nineteen  of  his  predecessors.  This  letter 
was  forged  and  published  by  the  Jesuits  who  lingered 
in  disguise  in  France,  and  the  apologist  must  have  been 
quite  aware  that  the  Pope  himself  indignantly  disavowed 
it  in  a  letter  to  the  Nuncio  at  Paris  ;  indeed,  Cretineau- 
Joly  at  once  goes  on  to  show,  from  Choiseul's  corre- 
spondence, that  the  French  could  make  nothing  of  the 
Pope's  attitude. 

These  Jesuit  outrages,  however,  seem  to  have  stimu- 
lated the  Pope,  and  on  25th  September  (1769)  he  gave 
Bernis  a  written  assurance  for  Louis  xv.  that  he  intended 
to  suppress  the  Society.  A  little  later  Charles  iii.  of 
Spain  received  the  same  secret  assurance.  Thirty-four 
of  the  bishops  of  Spain,  led  by  their  cardinals  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Seville,  had  written  to  demand  the  sup- 
pression, and  prove  that  it  was  not  merely  liberal 
politicians  who  opposed  the  Society.  In  the  following 
February  the  seminary  at  Frascati  was  taken  from  the 
Jesuits  and  put  under  the  control  of  secular  priests. 
The  spring  and  summer  passed  without  giving  fresh 
hope  to  the  Jesuits,  They  reported  Clement  gloomy 
and  inaccessible,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  they 
learned  that  a  search  was  now  being  made  in  the 
Vatican  Archives,  and  a  report  being  drawn  up  on  the 


350  THE  JESUITS 

history  of  the  Society  since  its  estabHshment.  From 
that  time,  in  fact,  Clement  secretly  gathered  the 
historical  material  with  which  he  was  to  frame  his 
crushing"  indictment  of  the  Society.  In  June,  it  is  true, 
Count  Kaunitz  visited  Rome ;  but,  as  we  know  the 
attitude  of  both  Maria  Theresa  and  Joseph  ii.,  we  must 
accept  Theiner's  statement  that  he  urged  the  Pope  to 
suppress  the  Society,  rather  than  the  French  historian's 
light  assertion  that  he  pleaded  for  the  Jesuits.  The 
Society  seemed  to  be  doomed. 

Then,  in  the  month  of  December,  Choiseul  fell  from 
power  in  France,  and  the  news  fired  a  train  of  rejoicing 
throughout  the  Provinces  of  the  Society.     D'Aiguillon, 
believed  to  be  a  friend  of  the  Society,  had  (with  the  aid 
of  Mme.  du  Barry)  displaced  their  great  opponent,  and 
the  policy  of  France  would,  no  doubt,  now  be  reversed. 
The  Jesuits,  and  the  noble  ladies  who  worked  for  them 
at  Paris,  affected  at  least  to  believe  that  they  would  be 
recalled  to  France,  and  that  the  Pope  would  no  longer 
be  exposed  to  the  unanimous  pressure  of  the  Catholic 
Powers.     But  in   his  first  dispatch   to  Cardinal  Bernis, 
D'Aiguillon  maintained  the  policy  of  his  predecessor  in 
regard  to  the  Society.     Spain  also  replaced  its  ambas- 
sador   with    a    more    vigorous    representative,    Count 
Florida  Blanca,  and  the  Pope  was  assailed  more  vehe- 
mently than  ever.     A  piquant  picture   is  offered  to  us 
of  the  robust  Spanish  count  bullying  the  aged  Pontiff, 
who  plaintively  bares  his  skin  to  show  Florida  Blanca 
the  eruption  which  proves  that  he  is  ill  and  cannot  be 
pressed.     Bernis's  letters  are  more  reliable ;  the  French 
ambassador  candidly  admires  the  noble  resistance  of  the 
Pope  to  the  intriguers  on  both  sides,  and  his  determina- 
tion to  have  his  inquiry  justly  and  patiently  completed 
before  he  condemns  the  Society. 

In  the  course  of  1771    and    1772   the   Jesuits   were 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       351 

convicted  of  further  indiscretions  which  strengthened 
the  case  against  them.  In  June  1771  the  secretary  of 
the  Portuguese  embassy  was  convicted  of  collusion  with 
the  Jesuits,  and  banished  from  Rome  ;  he  had  communi- 
cated to  the  Jesuits  the  dispatches  which  were  received 
from  his  government,  even  letters  to  the  Vatican,  con- 
cerning the  Society.  In  1772  the  cause  of  the  canon- 
isation of  Bishop  Palafox  was  before  the  Congregation, 
and,  in  spite  of  their  extreme  peril,  the  Jesuits  made  a 
violent  and  unscrupulous  opposition.  The  scurrilous 
pamphlets  in  which  the  character  of  the  saintly  bishop 
was  maligned,  and  the  person  of  the  Spanish  monarch 
represented  as  abandoned  to  the  devils,  were,  of  course, 
anonymous  ;  but  the  Jesuits  alone  had  an  interest,  or 
thought  they  had  an  interest,  in  preventing  the  canon- 
isation of  Palafox.  Charles  iii.  redoubled  his  pressure 
on  the  Vatican,  and  in  September  the  Roman  seminary 
was  taken  from  them  on  the  just  ground  of  improper 
administration.  In  the  same  month,  Catherine  the 
Great  invaded  Poland,  and  Rome  and  the  other  Catholic 
countries  learned  with  indignation  that  the  Jesuits  had 
taken  the  lead  in  greeting  and  demanding  submission  to 
the  schismatical  usurper.  They  were,  as  we  shall  see, 
currying  favour  with  Catherine  and  preparing  a  retreat 
from  Catholic  Europe.  Rome  had  hardly  ceased  to  dis- 
cuss this  remarkable  news  when  an  even  more  remark- 
able incident  was  reported  from  Paris.  Frederick  the 
Great  cynically  informed  D'Alembert  (in  December) 
that  General  Ricci  had  sent  a  secret  representative  to 
ask  him  to  declare  himself  "  Protector  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus."  A  little  later,  again,  Maria  Theresa  discovered 
that  her  Jesuit  confessor  Campmiiller  had,  as  such  con- 
fessors were  secretly  bound  to  do,  betrayed  her  confi- 
dence to  the  authorities  of  the  Society  at  Rome. 

It   is   hardly  probable   that   these  incidents  affected 


352  ,  THE  JESUITS 

the  main  policy  of  Clement  xiv.,  whose  summary  of  the 
historical  irregularities  of  the  Society  was  being  slowly 
compiled,  but  they  enabled  him  to  make  a  beginning  of 
open  action  against  the  Jesuits.  Their  administration 
of  other  seminaries  and  colleges  was  questioned,  and 
several  (including  the  Irish  College  at  Rome)  were 
taken  from  them.  In  February  (1773)  it  was  announced 
that  the  bishops  were  to  receive  the  powers  of  "apostolic 
visitators,"  to  inspect  all  the  Jesuit  residences  in  their 
dioceses,  and  suppress  them  where  they  deemed  it 
necessary.  It  is  suggested  that  Clement  thought  he 
had  discovered  a  way  of  demolishing  the  Society  with- 
out issuing  a  formal  decree  of  abolition,  but  it  is  more 
likely  that  he  was  merely  preparing  the  Catholic  mind 
for  a  drastic  measure.  He  appointed  only  one  of  these 
"visitators,"  Cardinal  Malvezzi,  Archbishop  of  Bologna, 
and  the  brief  of  suppression  must  have  been  drafted 
before  Malvezzi  had  concluded  his  work.  In  point  of 
fact,  Malvezzi  had  reported  to  the  Vatican  that  the 
Jesuits  of  Bologna  were  already  disposing  of  their 
property,  and  it  was  at  once  necessary  to  prevent 
them  from  carrying  out  so  irregular  a  scheme  as  this. 
Malvezzi  himself,  in  his  letters  to  Clement,  speaks  of 
the  measure  as  a  preliminary  to  carrying  out  the  "long- 
prepared  sentence "  against  the  Society.  The  Jesuits 
met  the  cardinal,  who  was  notoriously  hostile  to  them, 
with  great  insolence,  and  only  added  to  the  feeling 
against  themselves. 

As  the  spring  of  1773  advanced  the  conflicting  ele- 
ments at  Rome  were  thrown  into  a  state  of  intense  excite- 
ment. The  Pope  was  proceeding  with  the  greatest 
secrecy,  but  the  secrecy  itself  plainly  shrouded  a  sentence 
of  death.  On  28th  May  the  Pope  went  into  retreat  for 
a  fortnight,  and  thus  escaped  the  importunities  of  both 
parties.     In  the  few  weeks  following  the  retreat  he  still 


THE  SUPPRESSION   OF  THE  SOCIETY       353 

gave  no  indication  of  his  intention,  and  on  27th  June  he 
again  went  into  retreat/  and  refused  to  admit  visitors. 

The  air  of  Rome  was  now  tense  with  expectation, 
but  the  secrecy  was  maintained  with  singular  success. 
We  now  know  that  the  famous  brief  {Domimis  ac 
Redemptor  Noster)  for  the  abolition  of  the  Society  was 
signed  by  Clement  on  21st  July,  and  that  the  papal 
press  printed  sufficient  copies  of  it  for  transmission  to 
each  country  without  a  single  breach  of  confidence. 
The  representatives  of  the  Powers  were  privately  in- 
formed in  August  that  the  work  was  done,  but  the 
Jesuits  could  not  obtain  the  least  information.  Clement 
XIV.  accomplished  his  task  with  consummate  ability. 
The  Jesuit  legends  which  depict  him  signing  the  fatal 
decree  at  a  window  of  the  palace  by  night,  swooning, 
lying  unconscious  during  the  night,  and  awakening  only 
to  enter  into  a  delirious  fit  of  terror  and  remorse,  are 
not  worth  consideration.  They  are  fables  retailed  years 
afterwards  by  Jesuit  writers  (especially  Bolgeni),  and 
have  not  even  the  artistic  merit  of  consistency. 
Cr^tineau-Joly  seems  to  give  them  weighty  confirmation 
by  asserting  that  he  had  heard  his  version  from  the  lips 
of  Gregory  xvi.  But  he  singularly  fails  to  tell  us  what 
was  the  precise  story  he  heard  from  the  later  Pope,  and 
Father  Theiner  bluntly  questions  if  he  knew  sufficient 
Italian  to  understand  Gregory  (who  never  spoke  French 
on  such  occasions).  In  any  case,  this  reproduction,  at 
a  remote  date,  of  pro- Jesuit  gossip  of  which  we  find  no 
trace  at  the  time,  is  historically  worthless.  According  to 
all  the  contemporary  witnesses  Clement  was  in  excellent 
spirits  after  the  suppression,  and  carried  out  the  difficult 

^  The  retreat  is  a  period,  generally  a  fortnight,  in  which  priests  and  nuns 
devote  themselves  entirely  to  prayer  and  contemplation.  It  is  usual  to  do 
so  annually  ;  to  go  into  retreat  twice  in  six  weeks  would  be  regarded  as 
extraordinary  and,  in  the  circumstances,  very  significant. 

23 


354  THE  JESUITS 

work    with    entire    prudence,    tranquillity,     and    good 
feeling. 

But  the  best  defence  of   Clement   and  the  decisive 

answer   to    his   detractors    is    the  brief   itself  which    he 

signed  on   21st  July,  and  at  the  composition  of  which 

he  had  worked    assiduously  during  his  two  "  retreats." 

It   is   an    exceedingly    able    and    convincing    document. 

Jesuit  writers  constantly  say  that  Clement  xiv.  abolished 

the    Society    only    on    the    ground    that    the    peace    of 

Christendom  demanded  that  step,   and    that  he  passed 

no  judgment  on    the    Society  itself.      Even    the  recent 

American  Catholic  EncyclopcEdia,  which  affects  candour 

and  accuracy,  states,  in  the  article  on  Clement  xiv.,  that 

"  no  blame  is   laid    by  the    Pope    on    the    rules  of   the 

Order,  or  the  present  condition  of  its  members,  or  the 

orthodoxy  of   their  teaching."     This  is  a  disingenuous 

and  most  misleading  description  of  the  brief.     Clement 

gives  a  masterly  summary   of   the    irregularities  which 

had  been  charged  against  the    Society  during  the  two 

hundred  years   of   its   activity.     While,  however,  he  is 

frequently  content    to    speak    of  these    past  matters  as 

"charges,"  he  is  careful    to   add    that,  time  after  time, 

they    were    endorsed    by    his    predecessors,    who    were 

condemned  to  take  drastic  action  against  the  Society  ; 

and,  when  he  comes  to  deal  with  the  existing  Society, 

which  properly  concerns  him,  he  plainly  observes  that 

it  "can  no  longer  produce  the  abundant  fruits  and  the 

considerable  advantages  for  which  it  was  created,"  and 

he  therefore  abolishes  it  for  ever. 

It  is  impossible  to  insert  here  the  whole  text  of  the 
lengthy  brief,  but  an  analysis  and  some  extracts  will 
suffice  to  show  this.  The  brief  opens,  after  a  few 
introductory  remarks  of  a  general  nature,  with  a  long 
list  of  religious  congregations  which  had  been  dissolved 
by  the  papacy.     These  bodies  had  been  suppressed  for 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       355 

their  deterioration  or  irregularities,  and  the  list  is  there- 
fore a  fitting  introduction  to  the  main  work  of  the 
brief.  The  Pope  then  tells  that  he  has  made  a  thorough 
study  of  the  foundation  of  the  Society  and  the  early 
papal  documents  issued  in  regard  to  it.  He  adds : 
"  The  very  tenor  and  terms  of  these  apostolic  con- 
stitutions [the  letters  of  his  predecessors]  teach  us  that 
the  Society,  almost  from  the  beginning,  produced 
within  it  the  germs  of  discord  and  jealousy,  and  that 
these  not  only  rent  the  Society  itself,  but  impelled  its 
members  to  rise  against  the  other  religious  orders,  the 
secular  clergy,  the  academies,  the  universities,  the 
colleges,  the  public  schools,  and  even  against  the 
monarchs  who  had  received  them  into  their  States." 
Here  we  have,  in  categorical  form,  an  endorsement  of 
all  the  charges  that  were  made  against  the  Jesuits  in 
the  first  century  of  their  existence. 

On  account  of  these  disorders,  he  says,  "a  thousand 
complaints  against  these  religious  were  made,"  and  the 
papacy  was  entreated  to  reform  them.  He  recalls  the 
efforts  of  earlier  Popes  to  reform  the  Society,  and  adds 
that,  as  we  have  seen,  they  were  defeated.  "The 
most  lively  controversy  arises  everywhere  about  the 
doctrine  of  this  Order,  which  many  charged  with  being 
wholly  opposed  to  sound  faith  and  good  morals.  The 
bosom  of  the  Society  is  torn  by  internal  and  external 
dissensions  ;  amongst  other  things  it  is  reproached  with 
seeking  worldly  goods  too  eagerly."  Here  again  the 
categorical  note  of  censure  is  found,  and,  after  telling 
the  next  efforts  of  Popes  to  reform  the  Society,  he  says  : 

"  We  have  observed  with  the  bitterest  grief  that 
these  remedies,  and  others  applied  afterwards,  had 
neither  efficacy  nor  strength  enough  to  put  an  end  to 
the  troubles,  the  charges,  and  the  complaints  formed 
ao-ainst  the  Society,  and  that  our  predecessors.  Urban  vii., 


\ 


356  THE  JESUITS 

Clement  ix.  x.  xi.  and  xii.,  Alexander  vii.  and  viii., 
Innocent  x.  xi.  xii.  and  xiii.,  and  Benedict  xiv.  vainly  en- 
deavoured to  restore  to  the  Church  the  desired  tranquillity 
by  means  of  various  enactments,  either  relating  to  secular 
affairs  with  which  the  Society  ought  not  to  concern 
itself,  on  missions  or  elsewhere  :  or  relating  to  grave 
dissensions  and  quarrels  harshly  provoked  by  its 
members,  not  without  a  risk  of  the  loss  of  souls,  and 
to  the  great  scandal  of  the  nations,  against  the  bishops, 
the  religious  orders,  places  consecrated  to  piety,  and  all 
kinds  of  communities  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  America  : 
or  relating  to  the  interpretation  and  practice  of  certain 
pagan  ceremonies  tolerated  and  admitted  in  various 
places,  apart  from  those  which  are  approved  by  the 
universal  Church  :  or  relating  to  the  use  and  interpreta- 
tion of  those  maxims  which  the  Holy  See  has  justly 
proscribed  as  scandalous  and  evidendy  injurious  to  good 
morals ;  or  relating  to  other  matters  of  great  importance 
and  absolutely  necessary  to  preserve  the  purity  and 
integrity  of  the  dogmas  of  the  Christian  religion." 

It  is  absurd  to  regard  this  formidable  indictment  of 
a  religious  body  as  a  mere  list  of  charges  into  the  justice 
of  which  the  Pope  will  not  inquire.  It  is  a  list  of  the 
charo-es  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  predecessors, 
and  embodied  in  the  decrees  of  the  Popes  whom  he 
names ;  and  the  sternest  critic  of  the  Society  could 
hardly  frame  a  weightier  indictment  in  a  few  lines. 
The  Pope  adds  that  the  measures  of  his  predecessors 
for  the  reform  of  the  Society  were  fruitless,  and  under 
Clement  xiii.  "the  storms  became  worse  than  ever." 
The  Catholic  monarchs,  he  says,  have  been  compelled 
by  "seditions"  and  "scandals"  to  expel  the  Jesuits 
from  their  dominions  and  demand  the  abolition  of  the 
Society.  To  this  demand  he  has  given  conscientious 
attention,  and,  "  recognising  that  the  Society  of  Jesus 
can    no   longer   produce   the   abundant   fruits    and    the 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       357 

considerable  advantages  for  which  it  was  created,"  he 
"suppresses  and  abolishes  the  Society  for  ever,"  The 
brief  closes  with  directions  for  the  disposal  of  Jesuit 
property,  and  a  singularly  lengthy  and  subtle  develop- 
ment of  his  sentence  to  prevent  the  casuistic  genius 
of  the  Jesuits  from  evading  it. 

The  brief  is,  therefore,  much  more  than  a  declaration 
that  the  Jesuits  must  be  sacrificed  in  the  interest  of 
peace,  and  the  hatred  with  which  they  have  pursued 
the  memory  of  its  author  has  solid  ground.  It  is  a 
plain  and  learned  demonstration  that  the  step  taken  by 
Clement  xiv.  is  the  just  culmination  of  the  history  of 
the  Society  ;  it  says  nothing  of  leaving  open  the  question 
of  the  truth  of  the  charges  against  the  Jesuits,  and  the 
deliberate  addition  of  the  solemn  words  "for  ever"  to 
the  sentence  of  dissolution  shows  clearly  that  it  con- 
templates no  temporary  situation.  The  only  serious 
objection  urged  by  the  Jesuits  and  their  friends  is  that 
they  were  not  summoned  to  answer  the  charges  against 
them.  Clement  might  have  replied  that  the  charges  had 
been  examined,  and  their  defence  heard,  a  dozen  times 
in  the  history  of  the  papacy  ;  but  his  chief  reason  for 
rejecting  this  futile  idea  of  a  trial  was  probably  that  he 
knew  well  how  the  Jesuits  intrigued  on  such  occasions. 
Like  Sixtus  v.  he  would  certainly  have  passed  away, 
leaving  the  Church  in  the  throes  of  the  struggle,  before 
a  verdict  was  given. 

This  brief  was,  as  I  said,  concealed  from  all  but  the 
five  cardinals  who  were  to  carry  out  the  sentence  until 
17th  August.  On  that  day  the  Catholic  Powers  were 
officially  informed  of  the  signing  of  the  brief  At  nine 
o'clock  that  evening  a  band  of  officials  and  guards 
entered  the  metropolitan  house  attached  to  the  Gesu, 
and  ordered  Ricci  to  summon  all  his  subjects  to  the 
refectory.     They   knew — some  of  them   had   witnessed 


358  THE  JESUITS 

the  same  scene  in  Spain  and  Portugal — that  their  hour 
had  come,  but  they  must  have  been  deeply  pained  at 
the  wording  of  the  brief,  which  was  read  to  them.  Their 
proud  Society  added  to  that  list  of  degenerate 
congregations  which  the  Vatican  had  been  compelled 
to  abolish !  They  were  forbidden  to  leave  the  house 
until  secular  costumes  were  provided  for  them,  and  the 
notaries  put  the  papal  seal  on  their  documents.  The 
same  evening,  or  on  the  next  day,  the  brief  was  read 
in  the  other  Italian  houses,  and,  as  the  couriers  sped  to 
the  north,  the  disastrous  tidings  slowly  spread  gloom 
and  despair  throughout  the  Jesuit  world  as  far  as 
Holland  and  Poland. 

The  grief  of  the  Jesuits  was  not  less  intense  than 

the    rejoicing   of  their   opponents.     A  laughing   crowd 

stormed  the  chancellory  for  copies  of  the  brief,  but  few 

copies  had  been    printed,  and  its    drastic    clauses   only 

gradually    became    known.     Then  came    the   long   and 

stirring  period  when  the  news    of  the  response  of  the 

Jesuits    came    in    from    every    quarter.     The     Roman 

Jesuits  quietly  left  their  homes,  day  by  day,  as  secular 

clothes  were  provided  for   them.     The  Pope  provided, 

not  only  for  them,  but  for  the    Portuguese   ex-Jesuits, 

as  Portugal  refused  to  fulfil  its  promise,  and  had  every 

effort  made  to  find    situations    for  them   in  the  service 

of   the  Vatican,   the  secular   clergy,  or  the    educational 

world.       Many    merely    changed    their    garments,    and 

continued  to  be    the  confessors  of   noble    ladies  or  the 

tutors  of  their  sons.      Large  numbers  of  them  lived  in 

community,  on  their  joint  pensions,  awaiting  the  death 

of  Clement  xiv.  and  the  restoration  of  the  Society.     The 

chief   trouble    in    Italy    was    that   offensive   anonymous 

pamphlets  were  printed  in  vast  quantities  and  circulated, 

and  were  in  some  instances  traced  to  the  Jesuits  ;  and 

that  Ricci    and    his    assistants,    who    remained    in    the 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       359 

central  house,  were  detected  in  a  treacherous  corre- 
spondence with  the  insurgents  in  distant  regions,  and 
imprisoned  in  the  fortress  of  S.  Angelo,  where  the 
unhappy  Ricci  died  two  years  afterwards.  Rome  was 
not  indisposed  to  laugh  at  anti-Jesuits  as  well  as  Jesuits. 
No  doubt  the  gossips  of  the  city  told  each  other  the 
fables  which  Jesuits  reproduced  in  later  years,  and  their 
apologist  gives  as  "history" — for  instance,  that  the 
diamonds  which  had  adorned  the  statue  of  the  Madonna 
in  the  Gesu  were  publicly  worn  afterwards  by  the 
mistress  of  one  of  the  prelates  charged  with  the 
execution  of  the  sentence — but  the  pro- Jesuit  faction 
at  Rome  was  completely  silenced. 

In  the  Italian  provinces,  where  the  Jesuits 
commanded  the  allegiance  of  peasants  and  nobles  who 
were  unacquainted  with  their  history,  the  anonymous 
pamphlets  circulated  briskly,  and  some  more  overt 
attempts  were  made  to  weaken  the  condemnation.  For 
some  time  before  the  suppression  a  holy  nun  of  Viterbo 
had  earned  repute  as  an  inspired  oracle,  and  her  fame 
was  great  among  the  followers  of  the  Jesuits.  After 
the  suppression  her  inspiration  became  richer  and 
more  precise,  and  the  Vatican  presently  learned  that 
thousands  were  cherishing  her  predictions  that  the  Pope 
was  to  die  at  once,  the  kings  to  perish  miserably, 
Frederick  the  Great  to  be  converted,  and  the  Society 
of  Jesus  to  be  quickly  restored.  A  second  lady  entered 
the  field,  with  predictions  of  a  like  nature.  The  Pope 
ordered  that  both  should  be  arrested  and  an  inquiry 
held  by  the  Bishop  of  Orvieto.  In  the  rooms  of  the 
ex-Jesuits  he  found  an  enormous  mass  of  literature 
relating  to  the  prophetesses,  and  locks  of  their  hair  ("  and 
other  things  which  decency  forbids  me  to  mention," 
says  Father  Theiner)  for  sale  or  distribution  as  riches. 
A  judicial  inquiry  was  held,  and  two  of  the  Jesuits  were 


36o  THE  JESUITS 

condemned  to  imprisonment  in  S.  Angelo  as  the  chief 
agents  in  the  fraud. 

In  Naples,  Spain,  and  Portugal  the  news  was  received 
with  great  rejoicing.  In  France,  according  to  Cr^tineau- 
Joly,  it  was  received  with  indignation,  and  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Paris,  speaking  in  the  name  of  "  the  Galilean 
Church,"  boldly  rejected  the  Pope's  brief,  and  addressed 
a  very  remarkable  letter  to  His  Holiness.  There  were 
still  bishops  in  the  French  Church  who  owed  their  sees 
to  the  Jesuits,  and  Archbishop  de  Beaumont  had  earned 
their  gratitude  by  defending  their  casuists.  But  M. 
Cretineau-Joly  is  here  guilty  of  one  of  the  gravest  of 
the  many  grave  ruses  in  this  part  of  his  work.  The 
supposed  letter,  in  connection  with  which  he  does  not 
give  a  word  of  warning,  is  a  flagrant  Jesuit  forgery.  It 
is  dated  24th  April  1774,  yet  it  is  well  known  that  a 
few  weeks  before  that  date  the  archbishop  had 
suspended  an  ex- Jesuit  preacher,  M.  de  !a  Vrilliere, 
for  presuming  on  his  noble  connections  and  fashionable 
repute  to  make  a  few  remarks,  in  a  sermon,  on  the 
Pope's  action.  The  fact  is  that  this  forged  letter,  and 
one  forged  in  the  name  of  the  Archbishop  of  Aries, 
first  saw  the  light  in  a  Jesuit  pamphlet  eighteen  years 
afterwards.  The  French  received  the  news  with 
indifference  or  joy. 

Austria  also  at  once  secularised  its  Jesuits.  In  spite 
of  earlier  assurances  the  Pope  had  some  misgiving 
about  the  attitude  of  Maria  Theresa,  and  with  a  copy 
of  the  brief  he  sent  her  a  letter  from  his  own  hand. 
She  replied,  as  she  had  said  for  four  years,  that  what 
the  Pope  thought  it  proper  to  do  was  agreeable  to  her. 
Apart  from  Prussia  and  Russia,  which  we  will  consider 
in  the  next  chapter,  it  was  chiefly  in  small  countries  like 
the  Swiss  cantons,  or  on  the  foreign  missions,  that  the 
Jesuits  tried  to  resist.     At  Lucerne  the  Jesuits  induced 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       361 

the  senate  to  take  the  bold  step  of  suspending  the 
execution  of  the  brief  and  writing  to  the  Vatican  for 
explanations.  They  were  disdainfully  ignored  until 
they  decided  to  carry  out  the  sentence  against  the 
Society.  At  Freiburg — this  is  told  as  a  touching  and 
creditable  incident  by  the  Jesuits  themselves — the 
superior  gathered  a  vast  congregation  in  their  chapel 
("to  say  farewell"),  made  a  most  eloquent  discourse 
on  the  virtues  and  services  of  the  Society,  and  implored 
their  followers  to  respect  the  Pope's  orders.  Naturally, 
the  effect  was  the  reverse  of  pacifying  the  people,  and 
it  took  some  time  to  get  rid  of  the  Jesuits  in  Freiburg. 
At  Soleure  and  other  towns  there  was  similar  trouble. 
At  Cologne  the  ex- Jesuit  Fuller  edited  the  Gazette,  and 
its  columns  erupted  fiery  attacks  on  the  Pope,  and 
reproduced  all  the  unfavourable  gossip  of  Rome  about 
him  and  his  commissioners.  They  were  to  appeal  to  a 
General  Council  against  this  infamous  pontiff.  It  was 
only  in  June  of  the  following  year,  after  the  Nuncio  had 
threatened  to  lay  an  interdict  on  the  town  and  the 
authority  of  the  emperor  was  invoked,  that  the  Jesuits 
and  their  friends  were  silenced  ;  and  then  they  merely 
changed  their  coats  and  continued,  in  their  various 
positions,  to  await  better  days.  In  Poland  the  bishops 
at  once  began  to  execute  the  brief,  but  the  Jesuits 
inspired  the  idea  that  it  was  invalid  on  a  technical 
ground,  and  the  senate  talked  of  sending  an  ambassador 
to  Rome.  The  struggle  ended  in  the  Polish  Jesuits 
taking  shelter,  as  we  shall  see,  under  the  authority  of 
Catherine. 

We  do  not,  in  a  word,  find  that  admirable  and  meek 
submission  which  is  claimed  by  pro- Jesuit  writers,  who 
seem  to  think  that  the  cases  of  vituperative  pamphlets 
which  were  smuggled  from  country  to  country,  and  the 
bold  stand  made  by  local   authorities   here  and    there. 


362  THE  JESUITS 

were  quite  painful  to  the  condemned  fathers.  We  find, 
on  the  contrary,  that  from  General  Ricci  downward  the 
Jesuits  intrigue  or  rebel  wherever  they  have  large  local 
support  and  are  not  subject  to  a  powerful  Catholic 
monarch.  On  the  distant  missions  the  sequel  was  worse 
than  in  Europe.  The  removal  of  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  fathers  had  demolished  most  of  the  missionary 
provinces,  and  the  condemnation  of  their  rites  had 
greatly  reduced  the  missions  of  the  French  and  German 
Jesuits.  But  a  few  of  them  still  lingered  at  the  court  of 
the  Chinese  Emperor  or  worked  secretly  in  the  provinces, 
and  there  were  more  in  Tong-King  and  India.  They 
resisted  the  papal  brief  for  three  years,  at  least  in  China. 
From  every  mission  they  held  they  were  reported  to 
the  propaganda  for  insurrection,  and  the  letters  which 
are  sometimes  quoted  to  show  how  meekly  they  accepted 
the  sentence  were  written  by  exceptional  individuals.  A 
small  minority  of  them  were  for  submission.  Most  of 
them  made  a  hypocritical  plea  that  the  emperor  (who 
no  longer  recognised  their  existence  as  priests,  it  will  be 
remembered)  would  not  suffer  them  to  obey. 

When,  in  1776,  they  were  forced' to  yield,  they  fell 
into  three  parties  and  entered  upon  a  long  and  scandalous 
quarrel  about  the  division  of  their  property.  As  late  as 
1785  one  of  the  ex-Jesuits  dragged  the  former  superior 
of  the  Peking  mission  into  the  Chinese  civil  court  and 
exposed  the  quarrel.  Bourgeois  had  the  disposal  of 
their  property,  goods,  shops,  etc.,  which  were  valued  at 
half  a  million  francs,  and  he  rewarded  the  members  of 
his  own  party  with  a  thousand  taels  each,  and  left  his 
opponents  in  great  privation.  In  1786  the  propaganda 
forced  them  to  hand  over  their  missions,  which  they 
still  controlled,  in  secular  dress,  to  others,  but  they 
continued  for  several  years  to  quarrel  with  each  other 
and  with  the  other    missionaries.     The  last  chapter  of 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  SOCIETY       363 

their  Asiatic  missions  is  little  less  than  sordid,  and  it  is 
sheer  deceit  to  conceal  these  facts  and  offer  us  only  one 
or  two  edifying  letters  written  by  the  better  fathers. 

At  the  time  of  its  abolition  the  Society  numbered 
22,589  members  (of  whom  11,293  were  priests),  and 
owned  669  colleges  and  869  other  residences  (of  which 
only  24  were  "houses  of  the  professed  ").  It  is  needless 
to  add  any  reflections  on  the  suppression.  The  papal  brief 
is  the  supreme  judgment  on  the  Jesuits  in  the  first  phase 
of  their  existence.  However  many  devoted  and  austere 
members  there  were  among  the  twenty  thousand,  the 
Society  was  incurably  corrupt.  There  was  no  serious 
ground  to  think,  after  earlier  experience,  that  reform 
would  succeed  ;  they  would  not  reform  themselves — the 
decrees  of  their  Congregations  were  waste  paper — and 
they  resisted  every  papal  effort  to  reform  them.  The 
Society,  as  a  body,  was  committed  to  the  pursuit  of 
wealth  and  power,  and  in  this  pursuit  it  acted  invariably 
as  if  the  end  justified  the  means.  The  germs  planted 
in  it  by  Ignatius  had  ripened.  His  followers  had 
sought  the  wealthy  and  the  powerful,  had  veiled  their 
actions  in  secrecy,  and  had  trampled  on  their  own  rules 
and  the  rules  of  the  Church  when  the  end  required  it. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE   RESTORATION 

In  the  brief  of  suppression  Clement  xiv.  had  enumer- 
ated a  series  of  religious  congregations  which  the 
papacy  had  abolished  on  account  of  their  decay.  Most 
of  these  had  faded  from  the  memory  even  of  ecclesiastics. 
Their  members  had  bowed  to  the  papal  command,  and 
either  directed  their  steps  to  some  other  religious  body 
or  quietly  enjoyed  the  pensions  allotted  them  out  of 
their  property.  But  there  can  have  been  little  expect- 
ation that  the  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who 
were  especially  pledged  to  obey  the  Pope,  would  submit 
to  the  sentence  passed  on  them.  They  would,  in  some 
form,  await  the  toll  of  the  bells  over  the  remains  of 
Clement  xiv.,  and,  if  necessary,  over  the  remains  of  the 
Catholic  monarchs.  The  form  which  their  resistance 
actually  took,  however,  was  more  audacious  than  their 
keenest  critic  could  have  anticipated.  They  persuaded 
two  non-Catholic  rulers  to  prevent  the  publication  of  the 
brief  in  their  dominions,  persuaded  themselves  that  by 
this  device  they  escaped  the  heavy  spiritual  penalties 
laid  on  rebels  by  the  brief,  and  flouted  every  command 
of  the  Pope  and  his  representatives  to  change  at  least 
their  name  and  costume. 

So  much  has  been  written  on  the  conduct  of 
Frederick  the  Great  and  Catherine  in  patronising  the 
Jesuits  that  we  do  not  share  the  astonishment  of  con- 
temporaries.     In    his    correspondence    with    the    free- 

364 


THE  RESTORATION  365 

thinker  D'Alembert  at  Paris,  Frederick  lightly  advances 
one  reason  after  another  for  his  action.  He  scouted 
D'Alembert's  warnings.  The  Pope  had  "pared  the 
claws"  of  the  dangerous  animals;  he  had  "cut  off  the 
tails  of  the  foxes,"  and  they  could  not  again  carry  torches 
into  the  cornfields  of  the  Philistines.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  were  excellent  teachers,  and  it  was  immaterial 
to  Frederick  what  orders  the  Pope  gave  about  their 
costume  and  domestic  arrangements.  Pressed  more 
seriously,  he  pleaded  that  when  he  annexed  Silesia  he 
had  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  respect  the  religious 
status  quo,  and  he  was  bound  in  honour  to  leave  the 
Jesuits  there,  since  they  were  part  of  the  situation  he 
had  sworn  to  respect.  Even  this  ostensibly  serious 
argument  was  too  ridiculous  to  satisfy  his  friends. 
A  Protestant  ruler  swearing  to  respect  the  Catholic 
arrangements  naturally  supposes  that  he  is  to  do  so  only 
as  long  as  the  head  of  the  Church  desires.  The  truth  is 
that,  in  the  first  place,  the  Jesuits  provided  his  State 
with  a  comparatively  good  scheme  of  education  without 
cost  to  his  treasury ;  and,  since  they  could  have  taught 
just  as  effectively  whether  or  no  they  continued  to  call 
themselves  Jesuits,  it  is  further  clear  that  Frederick 
deliberately  protected  and  encouraged  their  rebellion  in 
order  to  secure  a  larger  service  from  them  than  merely 
teaching  arithmetic.  They  were,  as  they  had  so  often 
done  for  Catholic  monarchs  in  outlying  dominions,  to 
teach  loyalty  to  Prussia  and  disarm  rebels.  Add  the 
fact  that  the  Inquisition  had  put  his  writings  on  the 
Index,  and  the  Vatican  had  obstinately  refused  to 
recognise  his  royal  title,  so  that  he  was  not  indisposed 
to  annoy  Rome,  and  we  have  a  sufficient  explanation  of 
his  conduct. 

Until  the  year    1740   Prussia  had  remained  almost 
entirely  Protestant,  so  that  it  now  almost  makes  its  first 


366  THE  JESUITS 

appearance  in  the  chronicle  of  the  Jesuits.  A  small 
Catholic  community  existed  here  and  there,  but  there 
was  little  proselytism,  and  there  was  not  even  a  Catholic 
bishop.  In  1742  Frederick  won  Silesia  from  Austria, 
and  thus  included  in  his  dominions  a  large  and  dis- 
affected Catholic  population.  As  D'Alembert  reminded 
Frederick,  the  Jesuits  had  done  all  in  their  power  to 
hinder  his  occupation  of  Silesia,  and  they  long  continued 
to  foster  the  Catholic  wish  to  return  to  Austria.  They 
were,  he  said  in  his  Testament  Politiqite  (1751),  "the 
most  dangerous  of  all  monks,"  and  "  fanatically  attached 
to  Austria."  But  they  were  a  mighty  power  in  Silesia. 
The  Breslau  University  and  nearly  all  the  schools  were 
under  their  control,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  popula- 
tion, having  passed  through  their  schools  or  enjoyed 
their  ministration,  were  vehemently  attached  to  them. 
Frederick  decided  that  they  must  remain,  and  be 
watched  carefully.  In  1746  he  examined  their  system 
of  education  and  advised  them  to  send  for  a  number  of 
French  Jesuits,  who  would  raise  their  standard.  We 
can  quite  believe  that  their  schools  needed  improvement, 
but  Frederick  had  another  advantage  in  view.  A  leaven 
of  French  Jesuits  would  help  to  counteract  the  Austrian 
bias. 

Silesia  was  still  in  this  condition  when,  in  the  year 
1772,  the  Jesuits  found  themselves  fighting  for  the  life 
of  their  Society.  Frederick  had  privately  written  that 
it  "ought  to  be  rooted  out  of  the  whole  world,"  and  ten 
years  before  he  had  seriously  considered  a  proposal  to 
expel  the  Jesuits  from  his  dominions.  It  now,  apparently, 
occurred  to  him  that  he  had  a  splendid  opportunity  of 
conciliating  Catholic  Silesia  and  destroying  the  pro- 
Austrian  sentiment.  Joseph  11.  had  abandoned  the  Jesuits 
to  their  enemies  ;  Frederick  of  Prussia  would  espouse 
their  cause,  and  not  allow  his  subjects  to  be  robbed  of 


THE  RESTORATION  367 

their  ministers.  We  saw  that  the  Jesuit  General  was 
well  informed  as  to  his  attitude,  and  asked  him  to  pose 
openly  as  protector  of  the  Society.  He  probably 
answered  that,  while  a  Protestant  dare  not  interfere  in 
the  discussions  at  Rome,  he  would  keep  the  doors  of 
Prussia  open  to  them.  When  the  brief  of  suppression 
appeared,  he  forbade  the  bishops  to  publish  it  in  Silesia, 
and  he   offered   General    Ricci    and   his  colleaorues  the 

o 

hospitality  of  his  dominions. 

From  that  moment  Frederick  smiled  at  the  anger 
of  Rome  and  of  the  Catholic  nations.  The  cynical 
humour  of  his  attitude  does  not  concern  us,  but  the 
behaviour  of  the  Jesuits  themselves  is  a  grave  chapter 
in  their  history.  At  first,  with  their  wonted  casuistry, 
they  declared  that  the  brief  was  not  binding,  as  it  had 
not  been  addressed  personally.  When  this  supposed 
canonical  irregularity  was  ridiculed,  they,  as  I  have  said, 
pleaded  that  Frederick  conscientiously  believed  himself 
bound  to  maintain  the  status  quo,  that  he  therefore 
refused  to  allow  them  to  change  their  name,  and  that 
the  interest  of  religion  forbade  them  to  ignore  the 
commands  of  a  powerful  secular  monarch.  They  were 
warned  by  their  own  colleagues  in  Italy  that  this 
hypocritically  veiled  rebellion  was  of  itself  a  strong 
justification  of  Clement's  indictment  of  the  Society  ; 
they  were  reminded  by  the  papal  Nuncio  at  Warsaw 
that  they  had  in  fact  incurred  the  penalties  specified  in 
the  brief.  Of  all  these  warnings  they  took  not  the  least 
notice,  and  the  Catholic  world  had  the  singular  spectacle 
of  a  band  of  priests  who  were  understood  to  be  the 
Pope's  body-guard  sheltering  from  his  anathemas  behind 
the  shield  of  a  freethinker.  Indeed,  they  went  further, 
and,  cynically  ignoring  their  plea  that  they  must  obey 
their  monarch,  they  sought  to  use  Prussia  for  maintaining 
or  restoring  the  full  organisation  of  the  Society.     The 


368  THE  JESUITS 

Prussian  representative  at  London  helped  them  to  com- 
municate with  the  ex-Jesuits  of  England,  and  they 
proposed  that  a  Congregation  should  be  held  at  Breslau 
and  a  Vicar-General  of  the  Society  elected,  as  Ricci  was 
still  in  S.  Angelo.  The  English  ex-Jesuists  were,  how- 
ever, too  scattered  and  helpless  to  join  with  them. 

The  Nuncio  had  reported  to  Clement  that  it  would 
be  unsafe  to  take  drastic  action,  as  Frederick  would  be 
inspired  to  retaliate.  It  was  therefore  directed  that  the 
bishops  should  refuse  to  ordain  their  growing  members 
or  give  the  usual  spiritual  powers,  and  the  Jesuits  felt 
that  a  serious  situation  would  arise.  With  their  Catholic 
flocks  they  had  little  difficulty.  Clement  xiv.  was  repre- 
sented as  a  corrupt  pontiff  who  had  purchased  the  tiara 
by  a  simoniacal  promise  to  destroy  the  Society,  and  who 
now  wandered,  almost  insane,  about  the  galleries  of  the 
Vatican  moaning  and  crying :  "  I  did  it  under  com- 
pulsion." But  they  could  not  live  long  without  the 
co-operation  of  the  bishops,  and  an  envoy  was  sent  to 
Rome,  in  the  name  of  Frederick,  to  arrange  a  com- 
promise. They  were  to  change  their  name  and  dress, 
modify  their  domestic  arrangements  as  little  as  could  be 
helped,  and  continue  in  their  houses  and  colleges. 

At  this  juncture,  on  22nd  September  1774, 
Clement  xiv.  died.  He  was  in  his  seventieth  year  and 
had  a  chronic  ailment  (piles).  The  strain  of  the  last 
four  years  and  an  acute  disappointment  in  regard  to  the 
return  of  Avignon,  Benevento,  and  Ponte  Corvo  had 
deeply  affected  his  health.  In  April,  moreover,  he  had 
been  caught  in  a  shower  of  rain,  and,  although  he 
seemed  to  recover  in  the  early  summer,  his  condition 
became  grave  in  July.  By  the  end  of  August  the 
succession  to  the  papal  throne  was  openly  discussed. 
He  sank  slowly  and  continuously  during  the  month  of 
September,  and  died  on  the  22nd.     It  does  not  seem 


THE  RESTORATION  369 

necessary  to  examine  minutely  the  rumour  that  he  was 
poisoned.  His  illness  cannot  be  regarded  as  other  than 
natural,  and  the  repulsive  details  about  the  corpse  which 
are  griven  in  St,  Priest  seem  to  be  an  echo  of  Roman 
gossip.  If  we  decline  to  accept  popular  stories  concern- 
inof  Clement's  mental  condition — his  administration  is  to 
the  end  marked  by  great  sobriety  and  prudence — we 
must  also  decline  to  consider  these  rumours  of  poison. 
The  two  physicians  declared  that  the  death  and  the 
condition  of  the  corpse  were,  in  a  sultry  September, 
natural.  It  would  hardly  require  much  extension  of 
Jesuit  principles  to  sanction  the  poisoning  of 
Clement  xiv.  ;  historically,  however,  we  have  not  very 
serious  ground  to  charge  them  with  the  crime. 

On  15th  February  1775  Pius  vi.  ascended  the  papal 
throne.  The  power  and  attitude  of  the  Catholic 
monarchs  was  still  such  that  there  could  be  little  chance 
of  restoring  the  Society,  and  it  seemed  safe  to  admit  a 
pope  who  was  well  disposed  toward  the  ex- Jesuits.  It  was 
to  Pius  VI.  that  the  Prussian  envoy  made  his  proposals, 
and  they  were  gladly  admitted.  Directions  were  issued 
that  the  bishops  of  Silesia  might  grant  powers  to  former 
members  of  "  the  extinct  Society,"  and  they  entered  upon 
a  new  phase  of  their  rebellion.  Instead  of  welcoming 
this  regularisation  of  their  position,  they  complained  that 
Frederick  had  "gone  over  to  their  enemies"  (the 
bishops),  as  he  really  had.  In  the  course  of  the  year 
1776  the  Silesian  Jesuits  were  practically  secularised. 
They  were  forced  to  abandon  their  costume,  depose 
their  superiors,  and  hand  over  their  property  to  the 
State  in  exchange  for  a  salary.  They  still  lived  in 
communities  and  enjoyed  a  certain  immunity  from 
episcopal  control,  but  they  were  now  "  Priests  of  the 
Royal  Scholastic  Institute." 

Frederick     invited     other    ex-Jesuits     to    join     his 
24 


370  THE  JESUITS 

Institute,  and  a  salary  of  700  florins  a  year  was  assigned 
to  each.  In  this  condition  the  hundred  ex-Jesuits 
continued  to  control  education  in  Silesia,  and  quarrel 
with  the  secular  clergy,  until  Frederick  died  in  1786, 
When  the  bishops  objected  to  the  fathers  living  in 
community,  Frederick  genially  replied  that  at  Rome  one 
hundred  and  twenty  of  these  ex-Jesuits  were  living  in  com- 
munity, and  he  might  be  permitted  to  imitate  the  indul- 
gence of  the  Pope.  He  remained  to  the  end  proud  of  his 
economical  system  of  education  and  his  triumph  over  the 
Papacy.  His  successor  modified  the  Institute  in  some 
respects,  but  the  changes  were  slight  until  the  year  1800, 
when  it  was  converted  into  the  "  Royal  Prussian  Catholic 
School  Direction  "  and  lay  teachers  were  admitted  to  it. 
That  was  the  end  of  one  of  the  most  famous  and  curious 
rebellions  against  the  Papacy. 

Some  of  the  discontented  ex-Jesuits  passed  in  1800 
from  Silesia  to  Russia,  and  we  must  now  retrace  our 
steps  to  consider  the  equally  remarkable  rebellion  of 
the  Jesuits  in  that  country.  Catherine  11.  had,  like 
Frederick,  sound  political  reason  to  patronise  the  Jesuits. 
In  August  1772  Prussia,  Russia,  and  Austria  took  the 
fragments  of  Poland  which  they  had  long  coveted,  and 
Catherine  entered  Polish  Livonia  and  Lithuania  with 
her  troops.  The  ancient  kingdom  had  decayed,  as  we 
saw,  in  proportion  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Jesuits,  and  it 
suffered  the  dismemberment  with  the  impotent  anger  of 
an  ao-ed  man.  When  the  schismatical  Catherine  came 
!  to  claim  their  allegiance,  the  Catholic  clergy  generally 
stood  aloof  in  patriotic  sullenness  until  the  Jesuits  took 
the  lead.  The  admirable  excuse  is  made  for  them  that 
they  were  indifferent  to  politics  and  terrestrial  arrange- 
ments of  government,  and  recognised  only  a  duty  to 
obey  the  sovereign  who  actually  held  power.  In  point 
of  fact,  they  knew  that  Poland  had  not  the  faintest  hope 


THE  RESTORATION  371 

of  evading  its  hard  destiny,  and  they  hastened  to  greet 
the  new  ruler. 

Catherine's  searching  eye  at  once  realised  the 
situation.  These  two  hundred  Polish  Jesuits  had  an 
immense  influence  over  her  million  and  a  half  new 
subjects,  and  their  advances  must  be  met  generously. 
Peter  the  Great  had  excluded  Jesuits  from  Russia  for 
ever  ;  Catherine  at  once  decreed  that  this  prohibition 
was  repealed  as  far  as  her  Polish  dominion  was  con- 
cerned, and  she  expressed  a  flattering  admiration  of  their 
colleges.  Her  feeling  was,  obviously,  that  they  would 
prove  excellent  teachers  of  loyalty  to  the  Poles,  but 
within  a  few  months  the  Society  was  abolished  by 
Clement  and  a  new  situation  arose.  Playing  one  of 
those  little  comedies  which  adorn  their  annals,  the  Polish 
Jesuits  addressed  to  their  new  sovereign  a  most  respect- 
ful entreaty  that  she  would  permit  them  to  obey  the 
command  of  the  Pope.  There  is  no  doubt  that  this 
letter,  which  is  reproduced  with  admiration  in  compli- 
mentary histories  of  the  Jesuits,  is  genuine ;  it  is, 
however,  not  explained  how  the  Jesuits  would  lessen 
their  usefulness  to  Catherine  by  changing  their  name 
and  costume,  and  why  they  needed  this  imperial  per- 
mission to  make  a  change  which  did  not  concern  her. 

Catherine  and  the  Jesuits  had  enough  in  common 
to  understand  each  other.  They  wished  her  to  forbid 
them  to  obey  the  Pope,  and  they  would  prove  grateful. 
Catherine  at  once  refused  to  allow  them  to  change  their 
names  and  their  coats,  and  they  reported  to  Rome  that 
the  secular  power  forbade  them  to  comply  with  the  brief, 
and,  in  the  interest  of  religion,  they  must  obey  her.  The 
situation  was  so  scandalous,  since  the  Papal  Nuncio  in- 
sisted on  the  dissolution  of  the  province,  that  some  of  the 
more  scrupulous  of  the  fathers  were  abandoning  their 
houses   and    seeking    secularisation.       To    meet   these 


372  THE  JESUITS 

secessions  a  letter  from  Clement  to  the  Bishop  of 
Warmie  (an  ex-Jesuit)  was  published,  and  in  this  letter 
Clement  was  represented  as  approving  the  existence  of 
the  Society  in  Russia.  Although  this  letter  is  reproduced 
seriously  by  the  French  historian  of  the  Society,  it  is  a 
flagrant  forgery.  Clement  and  his  Nuncio  protested  to 
the  end  against  the  position  of  the  Polish  Jesuits,  and 
the  course  of  the  story  will  show  that  they  themselves 
took  no  serious  notice  of  this  supposed  authorisation.  It 
is  not  the  only  untruth  we  shall  have  to  trace  to  them. 

When  Pius  vi.  was  elected,  they  at  once  applied 
to  him  for  counsel  in  their  difficult  situation,  but  the 
representatives  of  France  and  Spain  were  closely  watch- 
ing the  new  Pope,  and  he  did  not  venture  or  deign  to 
reply.  Their  uncanonical  position  was  now  causing 
the  Jesuits  the  same  concern  about  the  future  as  it  had 
given  their  colleagues  in  Prussia,  and  Catherine  made 
a  direct  application  to  Rome  for  a  remedy  of  their  in- 
convenience. The  Pope  thought  that  he  might  escape 
the  importunities  of  the  ambassadors  by  conferring  on 
the  Bishop  of  Mohilow  full  power  to  deal  with  the  fathers. 
This  friendly  prelate  had,  no  doubt,  been  suggested  by 
them,  as  he  at  once  granted  them  the  desired  permission 
to  establish  a  house  for  novices.  To  complete  the 
comedy,  the  Pope,  through  his  Secretary  of  State, 
protested  that  he  had  not  contemplated  this  step  when 
the  representatives  of  France  and  Spain  complained. 
The  Jesuits  paid  no  heed  to  his  diplomatic  protest, 
opened  the  novitiate,  and  entertained  Catherine  herself 
at  their  new  foundation. 

The  powers  of  the  Bishop  of  Mohilow  had  now 
served  their  purpose,  and  the  Jesuits  asked  Catherine  to 
curtail  them  and  permit  them  to  elect  a  General  as  their 
constitutions  directed.  Catherine  (in  1782)  issued  a 
ukase  in  accordance  with  their  wish,  but  the  bishop  was 


THE  RESTORATION  373 

alienated  by  their  duplicity,  and  he  appealed  to  the 
Senate  and  secured  an  order  that  the  Jesuits  were  to 
obey  him.  Strong  in  the  favour  of  the  Empress  and  of 
Prince  Potemkin,  the  Jesuits  ignored  the  decree  of  the 
Senate,  and  went  on  to  elect  a  Vicar-General  and 
Assistants.  In  order  to  obtain  papal  indulgence  of  this 
conduct  they  induced  Catherine  to  send  the  ex-Jesuit 
Bishop  Benislawski  to  Rome.  Pius  vi.  dare  not  issue 
a  written  authorisation  of  their  position — another  proof 
that  the  letter  of  Clement  was  a  forgery — but  Benislawski 
reported  that  the  Pope  had  said  emphatically  to  him  : 
*'  I  approve  the  Society  in  White  Russia.  I  approve 
it."  Again  the  French  historian  reproduces  this  state- 
ment unreservedly  as  fact.  But  the  mendacious  bishop 
was  so  indiscreet  as  to  make  his  statement  before  he 
left  Rome  and  have  it  published  at  Florence,  and  the 
Pope  indignantly  denied  it.  The  bishop  was  ordered  to 
leave  Rome,  and,  as  Theiner  shows,  Pius  vi.  issued  two 
briefs  denying  that  he  had  approved  the  Society  (29th 
January  and  20th  February).  M.  Cretineau-Joly  seems 
to  prefer  to  think  that  it  was  the  Pope  who  lied. 

To  the  remote  wilds  of  Lithuania  the  Roman  quarrel 
had  little  chance  of  penetrating,  and  Bishop  Benislawski 
presently  returned  with  the  happy  assurance  that  the 
Pope  approved  their  position  ;  the  monarchs  prevented 
him  from  issuing  a  brief,  but  he  sent  this  oral  message 
to  justify  the  fathers  in  their  consciences.  The  lie  was 
propagated  among  the  ex-Jesuits  of  Europe,  and  many 
of  them  abandoned  their  pensions  or  positions  and 
made  their  way  to  Russia.  It  seems  that  there  were  other 
features  of  the  Society  retained  besides  the  art  of  mental 
reservation.  Cr6tineau-Joly  generously  observes  that 
after  1785  the  Russian  fathers  "construct  cloth-factories, 
a  printing  press,  and  all  that  is  necessary  for  such  ex- 
ploitations "  :  a  complete  business-system,  in  other  words. 


374  THE  JESUITS 

It  is  remarkable  that  even  in  these  circumstances,  when 
they  were  pressing  for  a  restoration  of  their  Society,  the 
Jesuits  would  not  abandon  their  improper  practices. 

The  death   of  Catherine  in    1796  did  not  affect  the 
position  of  the  fathers.     She  had  entrusted  the  education 
of  her  son  to  Father  Gruber,  one  of  the  ablest  members 
of  the  Society  in  Russia,  and  when  Paul  came  to  the 
throne  he  declared  that  he  would  maintain  the  patronage 
which  his  mother  had  given  to  the  Society.      It  is  true 
that  Paul  gave  them  some  concern  from  the  beginning. 
The    Vatican    had    now    so    far  reconciled  itself  to  the 
anomalous    situation    as    to   take    advantage    itself    of 
the    influence    of  the    Jesuits   and    send   a    Nuncio    to 
St.    Petersburg.      The    Russian    laws    strictly    forbade 
proselytism,    as  it   is    important    to    realise.     Paul,  like 
Catherine,  tolerated  the  Jesuits  only  on  condition    that 
they  ministered  to  their  co-religionists,  educated  youth, 
and  made  no  effort  to  disturb  the  faith  of  members  of 
the  Greek  Church.      Under  these  conditions  he  regarded 
them  as  a  useful  aid  in  carrying  out  the  national  reforms 
which  had  been  initiated  by  Peter  the  Great.     But  Paul 
was    tempted    to  interfere   in  the  spiritual   government 
of  his  Catholic  subjects,  and,  when  the  Nuncio  politely 
protested,  the  autocrat  bade  him  leave  Russia.     Gruber 
tactfully  mediated  between  the  two,  and  the  Nuncio  was 
allowed  to  return.     One  is  almost  tempted  to  think  that 
Gruber,   an    exceedingly    astute    Jesuit,    arranged    the 
quarrel  for    the  purpose  of   mediating,   as  we  find  him 
afterwards  speaking  of  the  "  debt "  of  the  Holy  See  to 
him  and  his  colleagues,  and  a  very  remarkable  under- 
standing between  the  zelanti  cardinals  and  the  irregular 
Jesuits  can  be  traced  at  this  time. 

Pius  VI.  died  in  1799,  refusing  with  his  last  breath  to 
disturb  the  Church  in  Europe  by  sanctioning  the  Jesuits, 
even  in  Russia.     After  his  death  the  Venetian  senator 


THE  RESTORATION  375 

Rezzonico  was  sent  by  the  ultramontane  party  to 
St.  Petersburg  to  ask  the  protection  of  Paul  for  the 
forthcoming  conclave  ;  and  the  only  meaning  we  can 
attach  to  this  embassy  is  that  the  schismatical  Tsar  was 
to  counteract  the  intimidation  of  the  Catholic  monarchs 
and  enable  the  cardinals  to  elect  a  pope  who  would 
restore  the  Society.  By  this  time  the  French  Revolution 
had  run  its  tragic  course,  and  the  ex-Jesuits  were  loudly 
proclaiming  everywhere  that  it  was  the  natural  develop- 
ment of  the  forces  which  had  demanded  the  suppression 
of  the  Society  ;  that,  if  these  wild  and  devastating  forces 
were  not  to  wreck  civilisation  in  Europe,  they  must  be 
recalled  to  put  a  check  on  them.  There  was  a  growing 
disposition  to  listen  to  their  plausible  sermon,  or  at  least 
to  perceive  that  if  the  Jesuits  were  restored  on  condition 
that  they  checked  the  new  spirit,  they  might  prove  a 
powerful  auxiliary  to  the  legitimate  monarchs.  The 
Bourbons  had  been  swept  from  France  ;  Charles  iii.  had 
gone  the  way  of  his  fathers  and  D'Aranda  was  powerless  ; 
Naples  was  beginning  to  desire  a  fence  of  Jesuits  to 
protect  itself  from  the  northern  pestilence. 

The  Tsar  was  greatly  flattered  by  the  proposal  that 
he  should  assert  his  power  in  the  metropolis  of  Christen- 
dom, but  it  is  difficult  to  And  that  he  had  any  material 
influence.  Portugal  and  Austria  alone  still  resisted  the 
design  of  restoring  the  Society,  and  Austria  was  fully 
occupied  in  meeting  the  troops  of  Napoleon.  Hence 
the  cardinals  had  little  difficulty  in  securing  the  election 
of  Chiaramonti,  who,  as  Bishop  of  Tivoli,  had  openly 
expressed  his  reluctance  to  carry  out  the  brief  of  sup- 
pression. Pius  VII.  was  now  a  feeble  and  retiring  old 
man,  a  former  member  of  the  Benedictine  Order  :  a 
strange  figure  to  place  upon  a  throne  which  was  presently 
to  be  exposed  to  such  violent  storms.  But  Napoleon 
was  not  yet  Emperor,  and  the  Papacy  was  still  a  quiet 


376  THE  JESUITS 

and  puzzled  spectator  of  the  extraordinary  developments 
in  Europe.  Within  six  months  of  his  election  Pius  vii. 
received  from  the  Tsar  a  pressing  request  for  the  approval 
of  the  Society,  and  on  7th  March  1801  he  solemnly 
recognised  its  existence  in  Russia.  We  shall  see  pre- 
sently that  the  Russian  fathers  had  already,  with  the 
connivance  of  Pius  vi.,  sent  a  colony  into  Parma,  at  the 
request  of  the  duke,  and  that  various  groups  of  thinly 
disguised  Jesuits  had  appeared  in  different  parts  of 
Europe.  The  Jesuits  had  now  a  substantial  hope  of 
recovering  their  power. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  Jesuits  were  not  in 
the  least  chastened  by  their  severe  punishment,  and  the 
position  of  Gruber  at  the  Russian  court  is  an  interesting 
illustration  of  this.      He  had  much  the  same  relation  to 
Paul  I.  as  La  Chaise  to  Louis  xiv.  or  Lamormaini  to 
the  Emperor.      Matters  of   pure    Russian  politics  were 
submitted  to  him,  and  he  was  hated  and  flattered  by  the 
Russian    courtiers.      Indeed,  about    1800    we    find   him 
engaged  in  just  such   an  intrigue  as  the  older  Jesuits 
loved.      Napoleon  wished  to  detach  the  Tsar  from  his 
English  alliance,  and  was  rapidly  developing  the  idea  of 
his  middle  career — the  proposal  to  divide  Europe  between 
the  thrones  of  France  and  of  Russia.      He  wrote  confi- 
dentially to  Gruber,  artfully  suggesting  that  a  co-operation 
with  his  plan  would  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  Society, 
and    Gruber,  who    could    see  the  future    of   Napoleon, 
entered  zealously  into  his  part.     One  wonders  whether 
the  history  of  Europe  might  not  have  run  differently  if 
Napoleon  had  followed  up  this   idea,  and  restored  the 
Society  of  Jesus  as  the  chief  element  of  his  "spiritual 
gendarmery."     On  the  other  hand,  Paul  instructed  his 
representatives  in  the  Near  East  to  obtain  access  for  the 
Jesuits,  and  the  first  step  was  taken  in  the  restoration 
of  the  foreign  missions. 


THE  RESTORATION  377 

Paul    died    in    the  spring  of    1801,  and   the   warier 
Alexander  came  to  the  throne.      He  quietly  assured  the 
fulsome  Jesuits  that   he  approved  and  would  maintain 
the  Russian  patronage  of  the  Society,  but  it  is  clear  that 
he  kept  a   more  critical  eye  on  their  conduct  than  his 
predecessors  had  done.     And  the  fathers  now  embarked 
on  enterprises  which  it  was  certainly  expedient  to  watch. 
Paul  had  assigned  to  the  Jesuits  the  Roman  Catholic 
church    at    St.     Petersburg,    and    to    this    church    was 
attached    the    privilege    of  opening   a    school.      In    the 
course  of  1801  and  1802  some  of  the  ablest  fathers  were 
sent  there  from  the  chief  centre  at  Polotzk,  and  a  school 
for  the  sons  of  the  nobles  was  opened  and  obtained  large 
numbers  of  pupils,   Russian  and  Catholic.     There  also 
appeared    at    St.    Petersburg,  as   Sardinian   envoy,    the 
famous  French  writer,  Joseph  de  Maistre,  who  was  at 
that  time  in  his  first  fervent  admiration  of  the  Society 
which  he  knew  so  little.     Whether  or  no  the  Jesuits  had 
secured  this  appointment,  he  proved  a  valuable  auxiliary. 
There  was  as  yet,  under  the  able  leadership  of  Gruber, 
no  cause  for  dissatisfaction.      In  the  new  provinces  which 
Alexander  was  developing  the  Jesuits  worked  devotedly 
and    usefully  among    the    colonists  ;    the    great    Tsar 
had  no  more  zealous  and  effective  apostles  of  loyalty. 
In  the  schools,  also,  their  teaching  was  irreproachable. 
Provision  was  made  even  for  the  training  of  the  youths 
in  the  doctrines  of  the  Greek  Church. 

The  work  of  the  restoration  of  the  Society  proceeded 
smoothly.  In  October  1801  the  older  fathers  had  met 
in  Congregation  and  elected  Gruber  General  of  the 
Society.  From  this  month  we  may  plausibly  date  the 
restoration  of  the  Society,  since  its  former  members  were 
free,  and  were  invited,  to  come  from  all  parts  of  Europe 
and  place  themselves  under  the  authority  of  Gruber.  In 
the  summer  of  1803  Gruber  sent  a  father  to  Rome,  "to 


378  THE  JESUITS 

watch  the  interests  "  of  the  Society.  Being  a  member 
of  an  authorised  body,  he  retained  his  costume,  flaunted 
it  in  the  eyes  of  the  astonished  Romans,  and  visited  the 
Vatican  in  it.  Men  felt  that  the  ghost  would  soon  be 
followed  by  a  resurrection.  In  the  following  summer 
Gruber  received  from  the  Pope  a  genial  notification  that 
Ferdinand  of  the  Two  Sicilies  desired  to  have  a  number 
of  fathers  for  the  education  of  youth  in  his  kingdom,  and 
Pius  was  willing  to  oblige  him.  On  6th  August  1804  the 
Society  was  restored  in  the  Two  Sicilies.  In  the  mean- 
time other  Societies  which  were  more  or  less  secretly 
Jesuit,  and  various  communities  of  ex-Jesuits  in  different 
parts  of  Europe,  were  returning  to  the  obedience  of  the 
General,  but  we  will  dismiss  the  Russian  episode  before 
dealincr  with  these. 

In  the  year  1805  Gruber  lost  his  life  in  a  fire,  and  the 
Russian  Society  fell  under  a  less  astute  leader.  Father 
Bzrozowski  was  elected  General,  and  for  a  few  years  he 
was  content  with  a  quiet  development  of  the  policy  of  his 
predecessor.  In  181 1,  however,  he  requested  the  Tsar 
to  raise  their  chief  college  at  Polotzk  to  the  rank  of  a 
university,  and  allow  it  to  control  all  the  schools  maintained 
by  the  Society.  This  would  remove  them  from  the 
control  of  the  Minister  of  Cults,  and  make  them  an 
integral  part  of  the  system  of  education  under  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction  ;  it  would  also  emancipate 
their  schools  from  the  control  of  the  St.  Petersburg  or 
the  Vilna  University.  Alexander  seemed  to  be  impressed 
by  their  specious  argument  that  a  healthy  rivalry  would 
raise  the  standard  of  education,  and  their  promise  that 
their  education  would  be  both  cheaper  and  sounder  (less 
liberal  and  cosmopolitan)  than  the  purely  Russian.  But 
the  proposal  raised  the  first  great  storm  against  the 
Jesuits  in  Russia.  For  some  time  there  had  been  a 
growing  resentment  against  them.     Russian  nobles  and 


THE  RESTORATION  379 

officials  and  priests  angrily  recalled  the  power  which  a 
Jesuit  priest  had  had  at  the  court,  and  lamented  the 
growth  of  Roman  Catholicism.  The  Jesuits  retorted 
that  they  had  not  received  a  single  one  of  their  pupils 
into  the  Roman  Church  ;  it  will  appear  that  they  had 
discreetly  sent  to  other  priests  the  pupils  in  whose  minds 
they  had  sown  the  seeds  of  conversion. 

Then  Joseph  de  Maistre  took  up  his  eloquent  pen 
in  their  behalf  and  the  battle  was  won.  In  181 2  the 
Polotzk  college  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  university, 
and  began  to  educate  the  sons  of  noble  or  wealthy 
Russians,  In  the  course  of  time  there  were  as  many  as 
two  hundred  noble  youths,  of  the  Greek  faith,  sitting  on 
its  benches,  and,  as  usual,  the  interest  of  the  fathers  in 
their  pupils  led  to  a  respectful  concern  about  their 
mothers  and  sisters.  It  was  noticed  that  many  were 
received  into  the  Roman  Church :  though  never  by 
Jesuits.  European  politics  had  for  some  years  distracted 
the  attention  of  the  Tsar,  but  the  critics  of  the  Society 
had  in  181 2  received  a  powerful  reinforcement  in  the 
shape  of  agents  of  the  English  Bible  Society. 
Alexander  was  at  war  with  Napoleon  and  in  close 
alliance  with  England,  and  the  Bible  Society  took 
advantage  of  the  political  situation  to  enter  St.  Peters- 
burg. They  brought  a  rich  supply  of  information 
about  the  Jesuits  and  stimulated  the  vigilance  of  the 
Russians.  The  mysterious  growth  of  secessions  to 
Rome  since  the  opening  of  the  Jesuit  college  for  nobles 
in  the  capital  led  to  fiery  discussions. 

At  last,  in  18 14,  the  young  Prince  Galitzin,  nephew 
of  the  Minister  of  Instruction  of  that  name,  joined  the 
Church  of  Rome.  He  was  in  his  sixteenth  year,  and 
had  been  attending  the  Jesuit  classes  for  two  years.  His 
uncle,  a  stern  critic  of  the  Jesuits,  now  entered  upon  a 
violent  campaign  against  the  Society,  and  the  city  rang 


\ 


380  THE  JESUITS 

with  denunciation  of  their  secret  machinations.  It  was 
discovered  that  the  real  number  of  conversions  to  Rome 
had  been  concealed,  as  the  converts  had  been  instructed 
to  practise  their  new  religion  only  in  secret.  There  was 
an  intense  agitation,  and  the  Jesuits  thought  it  prudent 
to  close  their  schools  to  all  but  the  sons  of  Roman 
Catholics.  It  was  too  late.  Priests  and  professors 
maintained  the  stormy  agitation  and  nervously  en- 
deavoured to  unveil  the  secret  Catholics. 

In  the  midst  of  this  agitation  Alexander  returned 
from  France,  after  the  final  defeat  of  Napoleon,  and 
both  parties  appealed  to  him.  His  answer  was  a  ukase, 
issued  in  December,  sternly  ordering  the  Jesuits  to  close 
their  schools  and  quit  St.  Petersburg.  In  cold  and 
measured  language  he  recalled  that  they  had  been 
admitted  on  the  strict  understanding  that  they  were  not 
to  proselytise,  and  he  denounced  their  "  breach  of  con- 
fidence." They  were  expelled  for  ever  from  St.  Peters- 
burg and  Moscow,  and  in  the  Catholic  Provinces  they 
were  to  return  to  the  subject  condition  they  had  had  up 
to  the  year  1800.  On  the  night  of  20th-2ist  December 
the  police  entered  their  colleges  and  read  the  Tsar's 
order.  On  the  following  day  they  were  compelled  to 
abandon  the  noble  ladies  of  St.  Petersburg,  and,  in 
the  depth  of  winter,  set  out  on  the  long  sledge-ride  to 
Polotzk.  Alexander  kindly  provided  them  with  furs  and 
directed  that  they  should  be  treated  with  consideration, 
but  he  was  convinced  of  their  guilt.  In  a  later  letter, 
indeed,  the  General  admits  that  some  of  the  fathers  had 
been  making  converts  among  the  ladies  of  the  capital  ; 
and  the  Jesuit  maxims  in  regard  to  truthfulness  are  such 
that  we  may  question  whether  this  was  done  without 
his  knowledge,  as  he  says,  and  may  be  pardoned  if  we 
entirely  ignore  the  assurance  of  the  Jesuits  that  they  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  numerous  conversions  of  their 


THE  RESTORATION  381 

pupils.  Not  only  the  general  law  of  Russia,  but  a 
special  imperial  decree  of  the  year  1803  forbade 
proselytism,  and  this  decree  had  been  forced  on  the 
attention  of  the  Jesuits.  "  For  the  greater  glory  of 
God  "  they  had  once  more  trampled  upon  a  strict  and 
honourable  human  eng-ao-ement. 

Bzrozowski  died  five  years  afterwards,  and  they 
appealed  for  permission  to  elect  another  General.  By 
this  time,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Society  had  been  restored, 
and  the  Italians  were  impatiently  awaiting  the  death 
of  the  Russian  General,  but  Alexander  spared  them  the 
evil  of  a  schism  in  the  Society.  It  was  reported  to  him 
that  the  Jesuits  continued  to  break  their  engagement. 
Prince  Galitzin  drew  up  a  long  memoir  in  which  he 
showed  that  they  had  been  busy  proselytising,  some- 
times with  violence,  since  1801  ;  the  local  authorities 
had  had  to  restrain  them  in  some  of  the  outlying 
provinces.  They  had,  he  alleged,  told  their  converts  in 
the  capital  to  continue  externally  to  observe  the  Greek 
religion,  as  the  Pope  had  given  permission  for  them  to 
do  so.  They  had  continued  to  proselytise  among  their 
pupils  and  among  the  soldiers  in  Lithuania  and  in  the 
other  provinces,  and  they  managed  their  estates  so 
unskilfully  or  so  unjustly  that  swarms  of  their  peasants 
wandered  as  mendicants  over  the  roads  of  Russia.  We 
cannot  control  these  statements.  The  memoir  was 
printed  and  published  by  the  imperial  authorities,  and 
the  Jesuits  were  ordered  to  evacuate  Russian  territory. 
From  their  estates  and  princely  colleges  in  Lithuania  and 
Livonia,  as  well  as  from  the  poor  colonies  in  the  Caucusus 
and  Siberia,  where  many  of  them  had  worked  in  the 
finer  spirit  of  the  Society,  they  sadly  turned  their  faces 
toward  the  west  from  which  they  had  been  driven. 

The  third  element  in  the  restoration  of  the  Society 
takes    us    back    to  the  year   1794,   when    a   few  young 


382  THE  JESUITS 

priests,  refugees  from  revolutionary  France,  attempt  in 
Belgium  to  set  up  a  purified  Jesuitism  under  another 
name.  The  most  prominent  was  the  Abbe  Count  de 
Broglie  (son  of  the  famous  marshal).  He  and  a  few 
others  discussed  a  plan  of  covertly  embodying  the 
principles  of  Ignatius  in  a  new  society,  and  consulted 
some  of  the  ex-Jesuits.  Father  Pey,  of  Louvain, 
became  their  director,  and  in  February  1 794  they  took 
possession  of  a  country  house  given  them  by  a  Louvain 
banker  and  entitled  themselves  the  "Congregation  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus."  Two  nobles  from  the 
"  emigrant "  regiment  joined  them,  but  the  six  recluses 
were  presently  swept  out  of  Belgium  by  the  army  of  the 
French  Republic,  and  they  made  their  way  on  foot — 
the  Society  was  to  be  restored  on  its  purest  models — to 
Augsburg.  A  few  more  were  added  to  their  number, 
and  simple  vows  were  taken.  Ex-Jesuits  watched  them 
with  interest,  and  they  sought  to  be  admitted  to  the 
Russian  Society.  Then  they  were  minded  to  go  to 
Rome,  as  Ignatius  and  his  companions  had  done,  and 
offer  their  services  to  the  Pope,  but  the  French  blocked 
the  way  and  soon  forced  them  to  fly  to  Vienna. 

They  were  now  seventeen  in  number,  and  they 
induced  a  score  of  refugee  bishops  to  appeal  to  the 
Pope  for  his  approval  of  the  Congregation.  Meantime 
they  founded  a  novitiate  at  Prague  and  a  house  at 
Hagenbrunn,  near  Vienna.  The  whole  structure  of  the 
late  Society  of  Jesus  was  copied,  and  the  studies  were 
re-established.  At  last,  in  1798,  the  Vienna  Nuncio 
brought  them  to  the  notice  of  the  Pope.  They  had  not 
forgotten  the  counsel  of  Ignatius  to  cultivate  wealthy 
ladies,  and  the  Emperor's  sister,  the  Archduchess 
Marianne,  was  an  ardent  supporter.  Pius  vi.  was,  how- 
ever, as  we  saw,  not  bold  enough  to  restore  the  Society, 
or  the  times  were  not  yet  ripe.      He  expressed  a  warm 


THE  RESTORATION  383 

interest  in  the  community  and  suggested  that  they  should 
enter  into  relations  with  a  similar  body,  the  "  Society  of 
the  Faith,"  which  had  been  founded  in  Italy. 

The  ex-Jesuit    Caravita  at   Rome  had  amongst  his 
followers  an  enterprising  young  man  named  Paccanari, 
the   ambitious    son    of    a    Tyrolese    tailor.      Paccanari 
was   the  leader  of  a  group  of  young  men  who,  under 
the  inspiration  of  Caravita,  went  out  to  visit  the  sick 
and  instruct  the  ignorant,  as  the  early  Jesuits  had  done. 
They  presently  formed  a  "  Society  of  the  Faith  of  Jesus," 
and,  to  make  their  meaning  plainer,  adopted  the  costume 
and    constitutions     of    the     ex  -  Jesuits.     The     Roman 
authorities  demanded  a  slight  change  in  their  costume, 
but  otherwise  connived  at  their  growth.      It  was  1798: 
Louis  and  Charles  iii.  were  dead,  and   the  aristocratic 
world  was  sighing  for  a  Jesuit  bridle  on  revolution.     At 
the  end  of  that  year  they  opened  a  novitiate  at  Spoleto, 
took  the  three  vows,  and  added  a  fourth  vow  to  obey 
the  Pope.     The  Pope  needed  a  special  regiment  just  as 
much  as  he  had  done  in  the  days  of  Luther.     The  new 
pestilence  from   the  north   had   descended    upon    Italy, 
and    Pius    vi.    was    in    exile   at    Florence.       Paccanari 
visited  him,  with  the  connivance  of  the  Pope's  ex-Jesuit 
secretary,  and  told  him  of  the  "  Fathers  of  the  Faith  " 
who  had  enlisted  in  his  special  service.      Pius  approved, 
and  told  Paccanari  that  a  similar  body  already  existed 
in  Austria. 

In  the  early  months  of  1799  Paccanari  set  out  for 
Vienna,  to  explore  the  rival  community  and  see  if  it 
could  be  brought  under  his  authority.  His  voyage 
through  the  Austrian  dominions  taught  him  how  ripe 
the  time  was  for  such  an  enterprise,  as  prelates  and  ex- 
Jesuits  received  him  with  gladness.  At  Padua  the 
Count  San  Bonifacio  (an  ex-Jesuit)  provided  a  house 
for  ten  of  his  companions ;  at  Venice  the  higher  clergy 


384  THE  JESUITS 

caressed  him.  The  only  feature  that  restrained  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  old  Jesuits  was  that  Paccanari  hinted 
that  the  Society  had  become  corrupt  and  it  was 
necessary  to  build  again  on  the  primitive  foundation. 
In  their  view  Europe  was  again  prepared  for  political 
Jesuitry,  and  there  was  no  need  to  go  through  the 
laborious  preliminary  stages  of  nursing  the  sick  and 
travelling  afoot.  At  Vienna  the  new  Emperor,  Francis 
II.,  received  him  graciously,  and  the  Archduchess 
Marianne  contracted  a  lastinor  reo^ard  for  him. 

The  energy  and  ability  of  Paccanari  soon  removed 
the  hesitations  of  the  Sacred  Heartists  ;  they  abandoned 
their  name,  fused   with    the  Society  of  the  Faith,  and 
repeated    their   vows    to     Paccanari   as    their   superior. 
A  regular   Province  was  now  constituted,   with  Father 
Sineo  as   Provincial,  and    Paccanari    went   on    to    visit 
Prague,  where  the  Archduchess  and  the  novitiate  were. 
Here  the  ambitious  youth  made  the  first  mistake  of  his 
singular  career.      Ignatius  had  strictly  enjoined  that  the 
Jesuit  order  should  never  have  a  feminine  branch,  as  so 
many  of  the  religious  orders  had,  but  the  Archduchess 
and  other  noble    dames  were  so    devoted  to  the   new 
enterprise  that  Paccanari  permitted  or  persuaded  them 
to  take  vows  and  promise  obedience  to  the  General  of 
the  Society  of  the  Faith.     Many  of  the  ex-Jesuits  now 
regarded  him  as  an  innovator  and  began  to  watch  his 
career  with  distrust.      He  found  many  wealthy  patrons, 
however,  and  little  colonies  were  sent  to  England  (to 
which  I   will  refer  later),  France,  and  Holland.     There 
were  in  a  few  years  several   hundred  members  of  the 
new  Society,  and,  as  the  Russian  Jesuits  had  now  been 
recognised  by  Pius  vii.,  Paccanari  was  urged  to  combine 
with  them. 

He  refused,  or  procrastinated,  and  from   that  time 
the  members    of  his  Society    began    to  abandon   their 


THE  RESTORATION  385 

obedience  to  him  and  seek  incorporation  in  the  genuine 
order.     The  Archduchess  clung  to  Paccanari  for  many 
years,  and  the  prestige  of  her  association  won  respect 
for   him.     At    Rome,  where   she   and   her  companions 
had    turned   her  palace    into  a  convent,   she    bought  a 
house  and  church  for  her  esteemed  director,  and  he  set 
up  a  community  of  thirty  fathers  under  the  eyes  of  the 
papal  authorities.      He  was  now  at  open  war  with  the 
ex-Jesuits,    who    swarmed   at    Rome,    and,    when    they 
slighted  his  title  of  General,  he  retorted  that  the  brief 
approving  the  Society  in  Russia  had  been  extorted  from 
Pius  VII.      He   might   now   have  accepted    the    idea  of 
fusion,  but  the  Russian  General,  to  secure  his  authority, 
insisted  that  he  would  only  admit  the  Paccanarists — as 
they  were  popularly  called — singly,  and  would  not  enter- 
tain the  idea  of  a  corporate   union.      Paccanari   fouo-ht 
resolutely  for  his  fading  authority.      In  1803  the  London 
Fathers  of  the  Faith  deserted  him  and  transferred  their 
obedience    to    Gruber.       In    1804    the    more    numerous 
French  fathers  renounced  his  authority  and  joined  the 
Russians;  in  the  same  year   the    Society  was  restored 
at  Naples,  and  many  of  the  Paccanarists  joined  it.     The 
Pope  remained  indulgent    to  the  falling  "General,"   in 
consideration  of  his  archiducal   friend,  and  his  Society 
lingered  in   Italy,  Austria,  and,  especially,  Holland.     At 
last  definite  charges  were  formulated  against  Paccanari, 
probably  by  the  older  Jesuits,  and  the  would-be  reformer 
was    committed    to    the   papal    prison    for  a   luxury   of 
manners  that  was  inconsistent  with  his  professions.      He 
was  released  by  the  French  troops  when  they  invaded 
Rome,  but  his  prestige   had   gone,   and,    flying  to  the 
hills  from    his   Jesuit  persecutors,   the  second    Ignatius 
perished  ignobly  at  the  hands  of  brigands.     The  Society 
of  Jesus  was  formally  restored  soon  afterwards,  and  the 
Paccanarists  threw  off  their  thin  disguise  and  joined  it. 
25 


386  THE  JESUITS 

We  have  already  seen  the  various  steps  by  which 
the  restoration  of  the  Society  was  prepared  in  Italy. 
In  1793,  Ferdinand  of  Parma  had  boldly  invited  the 
Russians  to  send  him  some  Jesuits  for  the  education  of 
youth  in  the  Duchy,  and  Pius  vi.  had  genially  closed 
his  eyes  when  they  set  up  five  colleges  and  began  to 
attract  old  members  of  the  Society.  Then  came  the 
French  campaign  in  Italy  and  a  more  bitter  resentment 
than  ever  of  the  new  spirit  which  was  invading  Europe 
and  shaking  the  legitimate  thrones.  In  1804,  when  it 
was  realised  that  Napoleon  had  destroyed  the  pesti- 
lential Republic  only  to  set  up  an  even  more  danger- 
ous power,  Ferdinand  of  Sicily  applied  to  General 
Gruber  for  a  band  of  Jesuits  to  instil  "sound"  ideas 
into  the  minds  of  his  subjects.  Then  came  Austerlitz, 
and  a  French  army  was  set  free  to  put  Joseph  Bona- 
parte on  the  throne  of  the  Two  Sicilies.  Once  more 
the  Jesuits  had  to  fly  from  Naples  with  their  protect- 
ing King  (and,  especially,  their  protecting  Queen),  but 
the  presence  of  the  English  fleet  confined  the  French 
to  the  mainland  and  the  Jesuits  of  Sicily  were  unassail- 
able. In  a  few  years  they  attained  enormous  wealth  and 
power,  and  it  would  not  be  unjust  to  connect  the  long 
somnolence  of  that  beautiful  island  with  the  profound 
influence  the  Jesuits  had  on  it  in  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

In  1809  it  was  the  Pope's  turn  to  quail  before  this 
terrible  incarnation  of  the  new  spirit.  The  Papal  States 
were  annexed,  and  Pius  vii.  set  out  for  four  years  of 
bitter  exile.  He  returned  in  18 13,  and  saw  the  allies 
closing  round  the  falling  monarch.  In  the  spring  of 
the  following  year  Napoleon  abdicated,  and  the  restored 
monarchs  set  about  the  task  of  deleting  the  past  twenty 
years  from  the  history  of  Europe,  and  stamping  out  the 
last   sparks  of  the  liberalism  which  was  understood  to 


THE  RESTORATION  387 

have  led  to  the  French  Revolution.  It  was  the  moment 
for  restoring  the  Society  of  Jesus.  The  monarchs  who 
had  pressed  for  its  aboHtion  were  dead,  the  new  genera- 
tion had  never  reaHsed  its  power  and  irregularities,  and 
the  Jesuits  themselves  had  for  twenty  years  confidentlv 
proclaimed  that  the  terrors  Europe  had  experienced 
were  the  direct  result  of  taking  from  them  the  education 
of  the  young  and  the  spiritual  guidance  of  the  adult. 
This  fallacy  was  prompdy  answered,  and  need  not  detain 
us.  The  Revolution  was  due  to  the  maintenance  of 
mediaeval  injustices  in  a  more  enlightened  age,  and  the 
Jesuits,  with  all  their  power  over  kings,  had  never  uttered 
a  syllable  of  condemnation  of  those  old  abuses.  We  shall 
see  that  they  lent  all  their  recovered  influence  to  the  task 
of  maintaining  them  even  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  truth  is  that  the  restoration  of  the  Jesuits  was 
an  act  of  the  Papacy  for  which  there  was  no  justification 
in  Catholic  opinion.  In  the  bull  Sollicitudo,  which  con- 
trasts so  poorly  with  the  reasoned  and  virile  brief  of 
Clement  xiv.,  Pius  vii.  ventured  to  say  that  he  was 
complying  with  "the  unanimous  demand  of  the  Catholic 
world."  This  was,  as  the  Pope  knew,  wholly  untrue. 
Spain  alone,  of  the  great  Powers— if  we  might  still  call 
her  great— was  interested  in  the  restoration.  Austria 
and  France  had  no  wish  to  see  the  Jesuits  restored,  and 
would  not  suffer  them  to  return  to  power  when  the  Pope 
willed  it;  Portugal  protested  vehemently  against  the 
restoration.  Pius  vii.  acted  on  his  own  feeling  and  that 
of  petty  monarchs  like  the  Kings  of  Sardinia  and  Naples. 
He  believed  that  the  Jesuits  would  be  the  most  effective 
agency  for  rooting  out  what  remained  of  liberalism  and 
revolution.  He  initiated  that  close  alliance  between  the 
Society  and  reaction  which  has  been  the  disastrous 
blunder  of  the  Jesuits  for  the  last  hundred  years.  But 
it  was  the  price  of  their  restoration. 


388  THE  JESUITS 

The    bull    was    issued    on    7th    August    17 14,    and 
read  in  the  Gesu    the   same   day.       In.  presence  of  a 
distino-uished  gathering  of  ecclesiastics  and  nobles,  the 
Pope  "said  mass  and  then  had  the  bull  read.     Some  fifty 
members  of  the  suppressed  Society  had  been  convoked 
for    the    occasion,  and    we    can    imagine   that    it  was  a 
touching  spectacle    to    see    these  aged  survivors  of  the 
mighty  catastrophe— one  was  in  his  hundred  and  twenty- 
seventh  year — return    in    honour   to   their  metropolitan 
house.     The  Gesu   and   the   house  attached  to   it  had 
been  maintained  in  proper  condition.     The  solid  silver 
statue  and  the  more  costly  ornaments  of  the  church  had 
been  sold,  to  meet  the  demands  of  France  on  the  papal 
exchequer,  and  the  library  of  the  house  had  disappeared. 
But  the  community  of  secular  priests  who  had  been  in 
charo-e  during  the  years  of  suppression  were  mosdy  ex- 
Jesuits,  and  they  had   reverently  maintained  the  home 
until  their  scattered  brothers  could  return.     The  novitiate 
also  was  restored  ;  the  old  fathers  were  summoned  from 
their  vicarages  and  colleges  and  myriad  professions  ;  a 
Provincial    and    Vicar-General    were   elected ;    and    the 
Jesuits    spread    rapidly    over   the    Papal    States.       The 
cloud  of  Napoleon's  return  chilled  their  enthusiasm  for 
a  month  or  two,  but  they  presently  heard  of  Waterloo 
and  settled  down  to  the  task  for  which  they  had  been 

restored  to  life. 

The  response  of  the  Catholic  world  was,  as  I  said,  a 
painful  commentary  on  the  Pope's  words.  The  flam- 
boyant bull,  permitting  and  urging  Catholic  monarchs 
to  re-establish  the  Society  of  Jesus,  made  its  way  over 
Europe  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  weeks.  Parma 
and  Naples  already  had  their  Jesuits.  The  Duke  of 
Modena  at  once  admitted  the  Society,  and  Victor 
Emmanuel,  whose  brother  had  surrendered  the  crown 
to  him  in  order  to  enter  the  Society,  naturally  opened 


THE  RESTORATION  389 

his  kingdom  to  them.  Ferdinand  vii.  of  Spain,  the 
most  brutal  and  unscrupulous  of  the  restored  monarchs, 
abrogated  the  decree  of  expulsion,  and  warmly  welcomed 
the  Jesuits  to  co-operate  with  him  in  the  sanguinary  work 
which  we  will  consider  in  the  next  chapter.  John  vi.  of 
Portugal  refused  to  admit  "  the  pernicious  sect "  into 
his  kingdom.  Louis  xviii.,  even  when  urged  by 
Talleyrand,  refused  to  sanction  the  presence  of  the 
Jesuits  in  France.  Austria  refused  to  recognise  them 
in  its  Empire,  which  still  included  Venice.  Bavaria  ex- 
cluded them.  And  it  took  the  Jesuits  years  of  intrigue 
to  penetrate  the  Catholic  cantons  of  Switzerland. 

This  was  the  reply  of  Catholic  Europe  to  Pius  vii. 
In  spite  of  the  strident  offer  to  combat  liberalism  which 
they  made  in  tracing  the  Revolution  to  their  absence,  they 
were  still  excluded  from  three-fourths  of  the  Catholic 
world.  The  indictment  of  them  by  Clement  xiv.  had 
not  been  answered  by  Pius  vii.,  nor  had  their  conduct 
in  Russia  and  Prussia  won  esteem  for  them.  They 
offered  no  serious  guarantee  of  better  behaviour.  How 
they  overcame  this  resistance  and,  in  the  course  of  a 
century,  almost  returned  to  their  earlier  number,  and 
whether  adversity  had  purified  their  character,  are  the 
two  questions  that  remain  for  consideration. 


CHAPTER   XV 
THE  NEW  JESUITS 

For  a  few  years  after  the  restoration  the  Italian  Jesuits 
were  fully  occupied  with  the  reorganisation  of  their  body, 
the  recovery  of  their  property,  and  the  absorption  of  the 
lingering  Paccanarists  and  survivors  of  the  older  Society. 
It  is  clear  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the  partial  restoration 
in  Parma  and  Naples,  the  Society  would  long  have  re- 
mained feeble.  How  many  still  lived  of  the  22,589 
followers  of  Ignatius  who  had  been  expelled  from  their 
homes  forty  years  before  we  do  not  know,  but  there  was 
by  no  means  a  rush  to  the  colours  when  the  regiment 
was  reformed.  It  was  difficult  also  to  recover  their 
property.  In  spite  of  the  generosity  of  the  rulers  of 
Piedmont,  Naples,  and  the  Papal  States  the  work  pro- 
ceeded slowly.  It  is  in  the  year  1820  that  we  catch  a 
first  interesting  glimpse  of  the  reconstituted  body. 

At  the  beginning  of  that  year  General  Bzrozowski 
died  at  Polotzk,  a  few  months  before  the  Jesuits  were 
expelled  from  Russia,  and  the  Italians  hastened  to  hold 
an  election.  Before  he  died  the  General  had  appointed 
Father  Petrucci  Vicar-General,  and  this  official  came  to 
Rome  and,  in  conjunction  with  his  fellow- Italians,  fixed 
the  election  for  4th  September.  We  are  not,  of  course, 
permitted  to  know  the  whole  truth  in  regard  to  this 
election,  but  such  facts  as  we  know  clearly  show  that  the 
Italians  were  determined  to  regain  control  of  the  Society. 

There  seems,  however,  to  have  been  a  deeper  quarrel. 

390 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  39i 

Some  of  the  younger  men  and  the  ex-Paccanarists  wished 
to  reform  the  constitutions,  and  they  had  the  support  of 
Cardinal  della  Ganga,  the  Pope's  Vicar  (and  later 
Leo  XII.) ;  the  older  men  opposed  reform.  But  what 
the  precise  position  of  Petrucci  was  it  is  impossible  to 
decide.  Cretineau-Joly,  who  alone  has  had  access  to  the 
archives  and  has  used  his  privilege  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  the  quarrel  unintelligible,  offers  the  ridiculous 
suo-gestion  that  Petrucci  and  the  cardinal  wished  to 
destroy  the  Society. 

However  that  may  be,  Petrucci  tried  to  have  the 
election  held  before  the  Poles  arrived,  but  there  was  a 
spirited  Breton  member  of  the  Russian  Province,  Father 
Rozaven,  in  Rome  at  the  time,  and  he  appealed  to  the 
cardinal.  Petrucci  then  wrote  to  the  Poles  to  say  that 
they  must  postpone  their  voyage  to  Rome,  but  Rozaven 
exposed  the  trick  to  them  and  they  reached  Rome  early 
in  September.  There  must  have  been  a  most  unedifying 
turmoil  in  the  Jesuit  house,  as,  instead  of  an  election  on 
4th  September,  we  find  Cardinal  della  Ganga  intervening 
on  the  6th  to  say  that  a  commission,  with  him  and 
Cardinal  Galeffi  at  its  head,  had  been  appointed  by  the 
Pope  to  adjudicate  on  their  quarrels.  A  week  later  the 
commission  found  that  Petrucci  was  to  have  the  powers 
of  a  general,  but  the  two  cardinals  were  to  preside  at  the 
election.  The  account  given  us  by  the  French  historian 
is  bewildering  in  its  confusion,  and  is  evidently  intended 
to  screen  an  angry  conflict  of  personal  and  national 
ambitions  and  of  reformers  and  anti-reformers. 

The  party  opposed  to  Petrucci  (and,  presumably, 
to  reform)  now  appealed  to  Cardinal  Consalvi  and 
denounced  their  Vicar-General.  Consalvi  had  litde 
interest  in  the  Jesuits,  but,  as  they  knew,  he  was  not 
disinclined  to  thwart  della  Ganga.  He  secured  the 
calling  of  the  Congregation  in  October.       It  seems  to 


393  THE  JESUITS 

have  been  the  most  lively  and  impassioned  election 
that  the  old  house  had  ever  witnessed.  Petrucci  ruled 
that  the  voters  from  England  and  France  and  part 
of  Italy  had  no  canonical  right  to  vote  ;  the  Conoreo-a- 
tion  overruled  him,  and,  when  he  protested,  deposed 
him  and  excluded  him  and  his  chief  supporter,  Pietro- 
boni,  from  the  Congregation.  Delia  Ganga  appealed 
to  the  Pope,  Consalvi  defeated  his  appeal,  and  on  i8th 
October  Father  Fortis  was  elected.  The  triumphant 
section  then  held  a  trial  of  the  conduct  of  the  minority. 
Petrucci  and  Pietroboni  were  pardoned  on  account  of 
their  age,  but  a  number  of  younger  men  were  expelled 
from  the  Society. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  this  Congregation  shows 
a  decided  continuity  of  the  irregular  features  of  the 
Society.  Fortis,  Rozaven,  Petrucci,  and  the  leaders  of 
the  conflicting  parties  were  old  members ;  Fortis,  at  least, 
an  elderly  Italian  in  his  eighth  decade  of  life,  had  be- 
longed to  the  suppressed  Society,  and  the  conduct  of  him 
and  his  followers  suggests  that  forty  years  of  life  with- 
out the  restraint  of  discipline  had  not  tended  to  improve 
their  character.  In  the  pacified  Europe  of  1820  they 
saw  an  easy  field  for  the  triumph  of  their  order,  and 
the  Italians  were  ambitious  to  control  it.  The  struggle 
against  the  proposal  to  reform  the  Society  is  equally 
unattractive;  and  the  facility  with  which  both  parties 
appealed  to  rival  cardinals,  when  the  Jesuit  tradition 
was  fiercely  to  resent  any  outside  interference  with  their 
Congregations,  completes  an  unpleasant  picture.  The 
anti- reformers  won,  and  the  voters  scattered  to  their 
respective  provinces  and  missions. 

Three  years  later  Pius  vii.  died,  and  the  triumphant 
clique  at  the  Gesi^i  had  a  momentary  anxiety  when 
Cardinal  della  Ganga  mounted  the  papal  throne  under 
the  name  of  Leo  xii.     Rozaven  expresses  their  concern 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  393 

in  a  letter  to  a  colleague,  and  predicts  that  he  at  least 
will  be  compelled  to  leave  Rome.  But  Leo  xii,  was 
convinced  that  the  Society  had  become  one  of  the  most 
useful  auxiliaries  of  the  Papacy,  and  he  hastened  to 
assure  them  that  their  intrigue  against  his  authority  was 
forgotten.  He  had,  in  fact,  hardly  been  a  year  at  the 
Vatican  when  he  gratified  them  by  restoring  the  Roman 
College  to  their  charge,  and  they  gathered  their  best 
teachers  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  win  back  its 
earlier  prestige.  Other  of  their  old  colleges  in  the 
Papal  States  were  secured  for  them  by  Leo  xii,  and  the 
Italian  Provinces  quickly  recovered  their  power. 

It  was  known  to  all  that  the  liberal  feelincr  en- 
gendered  by  the  revolutionary  movement  was  still 
intensely  alive.  The  secret  Society  of  the  Carbonari 
spread  its  net  over  Italy,  and  the  cultivated  middle  class 
was  very  largely  liberal  and  anti-clerical.  At  Naples, 
in  1820,  the  Carbonari  had  seemed  for  a  moment  about 
to  triumph ;  but  the  rebellion  was  defeated,  and  the 
Jesuits  returned  to  the  task  of  educating  the  middle 
class  in  pro-papal  sentiments.  They  had  a  college  for 
the  sons  of  nobles  at  Naples,  and  four  other  colleges  in 
the  Neapolitan  district ;  while  they  had  no  less  than 
fifteen  colleges  and  residences  in  the  island  of  Sicily. 
In  northern  Piedmont,  from  which  few  at  that  time 
expected  the  greatest  menace  to  the  Papacy  to  come, 
they  retained  great  power  for  decades.  Victor  Em- 
manuel gave  place  to  Charles  Felix,  and  the  Liberals 
took  the  occasion  to  make  a  violent  assault  on  the 
fathers.  Charles  Felix  replied  by  choosing  a  Jesuit 
confessor,  Father  Grassi.  Charles  Albert  patronised 
them  even  more  generously  than  his  predecessors.  He 
secured  the  return  of  their  old  house  at  Turin,  and, 
when  he  found  it  impossible  to  get  for  them  their  old 
house   at    Genoa,    which    had    been    converted    into    a 


394  THE  JESUITS 

university,  he  granted  them  one  of  his  palaces  for  a 
residence. 

In  the  Papal  States  they  entered  upon  their  golden 
age  with  the  accession  of  Gregory  xvi.,  in  1831.  Both 
Leo  XII.  and  General  Fortis  died  in  1829.  A  young 
Dutch  Jesuit,  Father  Roothaan  (aged  forty-four),  suc- 
ceeded Fortis,  and  Pius  viii.  ascended  the  papal  throne. 
He  died  in  November  1830,  and  Gregory  xvi,  assumed 
the  tiara  in  the  very  heat  of  the  revolutionary  movement 
of  1830  and  1 83 1.  The  "  White  Terror"  had  failed  to 
conquer  what  it  called  the  revolutionary  element ;  its 
thousands  of  executions  and  its  appalling  jails  and 
repulsive  spies  had  merely  fed  the  flame  of  insurrection, 
and  the  international  movement  for  reform  sfathered 
strength.  The  middle  class  in  every  country — in  Italy, 
especially,  the  revolutionary  movements  were  essentially 
middle  class  —  suffered  with  burnino-  indignation  the 
brutalities  of  Austria,  the  Papacy,  Naples,  Spain,  and 
France,  and  young  men  of  the  type  of  Mazzini  devoted 
their  lives  to  reform.  In  183 1  the  Italian  rebels,  fired  by 
the  success  of  the  July  Revolution  in  France,  raised  their 
tricolour  standard  and  soon  saw  it  floating  over  Modena, 
Parma,  and  a  number  of  the  Papal  States.  One  of  the 
first  movements  of  the  insurgents  in  every  place  was  to 
assail  the  Jesuit  residences.  At  Spoleto,  Fano,  Modena, 
Reggio,  Forli,  and  Ferrara,  the  Jesuits  were  driven 
from  their  homes  and  colleges  and  hunted  over  the 
frontiers  of  the  revolutionary  provinces.  But  Naples 
and  Piedmont  were  unshaken  by  the  disturbance,  and 
the  Austrian  troops  from  Venice  quickly  trampled  out 
the  revolutionary  spirit.  It  was  on  the  eve  of  this 
insurrection — a  work  almost  entirely  of  the  educated 
class — that  Gregory  became  Pope,  and  his  policy  after 
the  pacification  was  one  of  savage  repression. 

It  is  needless  here  to  recall  the  brutal  regime  which 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  395 

the  Austrians  in  Venice  (to  which  the  Jesuits  were 
formally  admitted  in  1836),  the  Pope  in  central  Italy, 
and  the  Neapolitan  ruler  in  the  south,  spread  over  the 
land.  It  is  enough  for  us  that  in  the  three  States,  as 
in  Spain  and  Portugal,  the  Jesuits  were  the  most  ardent 
auxiliaries  of  the  reactionary  and  sanguinary  monarchs. 
Gregory  xvi.,  the  most  repulsive  Pope  of  modern  times, 
was  the  most  generous  patron  that  the  Jesuits  had  had 
for  more  than  a  hundred  years.  He  went  so  far  as  to 
entrust  to  them  the  Urban  College,  the  institution  in 
which  the  Propaganda  itself  trained  its  missionaries. 
Education  was  the  root  of  the  revolutionary  evil,  and 
it  was  the  place  of  the  Jesuits  to  see  that  such  education 
as  was  imparted  in  Italy — which  sank  to  an  appalling 
degree  of  illiteracy,  and  is  still  illiterate  to  the  extent  of 
70  per  cent,  in  the  southern  provinces,  where  the  Jesuits 
ruled  longest — was  not  tainted  with  modern  culture.  It 
is  true  that  after  1830  the  General  appointed  five  learned 
fathers  to  revise  the  Ratio  Stiidiornm  of  the  Society ; 
but  one  cannot  regard  it  as  other  than  a  somewhat 
humorous  comment  on  the  Jesuit  system  that  the 
teachers  were  no  longer  to  be  bound  to  teach  the  physics 
of  Aristotle  or  to  slight,  in  favour  of  Latin  and  Greek, 
the  tongue  of  the  pupils  whom  they  trained.  We  have, 
in  fact,  a  very  curious  illustration  of  the  level  of  culture 
of  Gregory  and  his  teaching  Jesuits.  In  the  year  1837 
the  cholera  threatened  Rome.  The  science  of  meetina 
such  epidemics  was,  of  course,  still  in  its  infancy,  but 
the  conduct  of  Rome  was  exactly  what  it  would  have 
been  five  hundred  years  earlier.  A  solemn  procession 
was  enjoined,  and,  amidst  the  masses  of  terrified 
people,  a  statue  of  the  Virgin  was  borne  across 
Rome  to  the  Church  of  the  Jesuits.  Gregory  and  his 
cardinals  were  in  the  procession,  and  for  a  time  the 
GesLi   was    the    centre  or  fount  of   the  hope  of  Rome. 


396  THE  JESUITS 

Within  a  few  months  5419  Romans  succumbed  to  the 
cholera. 

Gregory  died  in  the  year  1846,  and  Italy  sighed  with 
relief.  The  misery  of  the  working  classes,  the  brutal 
treatment  to  which  the  educated  classes  had  been 
exposed,  and  the  control  of  education  and  of  a  very 
large  proportion  of  appointments  in  the  Papal  States  by 
the  Jesuits,  had  engendered  a  hatred  of  him  in  every 
part  of  his  dominion.  When  Mastai  Ferretti  ascended 
the  throne,  and  took  the  name  of  Pius  ix.,  he  was 
greeted  with  wild  enthusiasm.  He  was  sufficiently 
known  to  inspire  a  hope  that  the  reign  of  terror  and 
the  reign  of  the  Jesuits  were  over,  and  his  first  acts 
confirmed  this  hope.  An  amnesty  was  granted,  and 
the  more  brutal  of  his  predecessor's  coercive  measures 
were  repealed.  Rossi,  who,  as  we  shall  see  presently, 
had  been  sent  to  Rome  a  few  years  before  to  negotiate 
the  banishment  of  the  Jesuits  from  France,  was  recalled 
and  made  leading  minister  to  the  Vatican  ;  and  Father 
Theiner  was  directed  to  vindicate  the  memory  of 
Clement  xiv.  against  the  Jesuits  and  Crdtineau-Joly, 
who  had  just  published  his  history.  The  Jesuits  were 
so  notoriously  discontented  with  the  change,  and  with 
the  young  Pope's  concessions  to  liberalism,  that,  as  he 
passed  through  the  streets  he  heard  the  warning  cry 
from  his  people  :  "  Beware  of  the  Jesuits." 

What  part  the  Jesuits  had  in  the  termination  of  the 
new  Pope's  pose  as  a  Liberal  it  would  be  difficult  to 
say.  The  usual  statement,  that  he  was  shaken  by  the 
assassination  of  Count  Rossi  and  the  revolution  of  1 848, 
is  superficial  and  misleading.  He  had  incurred  the 
resentment  of  the  Liberals  because  he  had  rapidly 
fallen  from  his  first  ideal.  Some  of  the  chief  grievances 
of  his  educated  subjects,  such  as  the  monopoly  of  all 
remunerative  offices    in    the    State  by  clerics,  remained 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  397 

untouched,  and  it  was  soon  perceived  that  he  was 
drifting  backward  toward  reaction.  His  confessor  was 
replaced  by  a  friend  of  the  Jesuits,  and,  when  the 
popular  and  somewhat  insurgent  priest  Gioberti 
published  a  fiery  and  just  attack  on  the  Jesuits,  Pius 
IX.  harshly  condemned  him.  At  the  same  time  the 
returned  exiles  and  the  refugees  who  flocked  to  Rome 
from  the  countries  which  clung  to  oppression  assuredly 
had  ideals  which  it  was  quite  impossible  for  any  Pope 
to  realise  in  that  age.  Pius  was  alienated  more  and 
more,  and  a  violent  conflict  approached.  How  the 
third  revolutionary  wave  in  1848  spread  to  Rome,  and 
the  Pope  fled  to  Gaeta,  and  the  Jesuits  returned  to 
power  in  the  inevitable  reaction,  must  be  reserved  for 
the  next  chapter. 

When  we  turn  to  consider  the  fortunes  of  the  Jesuits 
in  France  during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
we  find  a  very  different  and  more  interesting  chronicle. 
They  had  been  banished  from  France,  it  will  be  recalled, 
in  1 76 1,  and  the  great  majority  of  them  had  actually 
quitted  the  kingdom.  Many  had  been  secularised,  and 
remained  as  teachers,  tutors,  confessors,  or  cures. 
During  the  period  of  suppression  a  large  number  of 
them  found  employment  in  France ;  the  learned  Father 
Boscovitch,  for  instance,  was  made  director  of  the 
optical  department  of  the  Navy  under  Louis  xvi.  As 
in  Italy  and  Austria,  some  of  them  sought  to  incorporate 
the  spirit  of  their  condemned  Society  in  Congregations 
with  other  names,  and  a  curious  assortment  of  frater- 
nities appeared.  The  "  Fathers  of  the  Faith,"  or 
Paccanarists,  whose  origin  we  have  seen,  found  a  genial 
atmosphere  in  France,  and  the  little  colony  they  sent 
from  Austria  was  soon  swelled  with  ex-Jesuits.  Another 
body  was  significantly  known  as  the  "Victims  of  the 
Love  of  God."     The  feminine  branch  of  the  "Sacred 


398  THE  JESUITS 

Heart "  Society  also  spread  to  France,  and  grew  into  a 
formidable  body  of  nuns  (under  the  direction  of  ex- 
Jesuits)  with  the  particular  function  of  giving  a  "  sound  " 
education  to  the  daughters  of  wealthy  people  ;  it  remains 
to  this  day,  in  effect,  the  feminine  branch  of  the  Society, 
though  the  connection  is  not  official.  There  was  a 
"Congregation  of  the  Holy  Family"  for  training 
teachers  of  the  poor,  and  a  "  Congregation  of  Our  Lady  " 
for  banding  together  members  of  the  middle  class. 

But  of  all  these  associations  which  sprang  up 
mysteriously  in  the  soil  of  revolutionary  France,  and 
throve  under  the  shelter  of  Napoleon,  the  most 
important  was  a  certain  "Congregation  of  the  Holy 
Virgin,"  founded  in  the  year  1801.  It  was  contrplled 
by  an  ex- Jesuit,  and  had  at  first  some  resemblance  to 
the  association  of  young  men  organised  at  Rome  by 
the  ex-Jesuit  Caravita,  The  young  men,  very  largely 
university  students,  were  to  visit  the  sick  and  poor — 
to  be  practical  Christians,  in  a  word.  But,  whereas  the 
Italian  young  men  had  become  priests  and  Paccanarists, 
the  members  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Virgin  generally 
remained  in  the  world,  retaining  throughout  life  their 
membership  of  the  Society  and  their  link  with  its 
directors.  A  register  of  their  names  and  occupations 
was  kept,  and  it  meant,  in  effect,  that  the  Jesuits  had 
friends  and  ardent  secret  workers  in  every  school  and 
profession,  in  the  army  and  navy,  in  journalism  and 
politics. 

Louis  XVIII.  came  to  the  throne  and  was  urged  by 
Talleyrand  to  restore  the  Society.  He  refused,  and 
the  Jesuits  were  forced  to  rely  still  on  their  secret 
organisation.  Already,  in  18 14,  the  Fathers  of  the  Faith 
had  a  house  in  Paris,  and  six  other  houses  in  the 
country.  Their  title  was  now  a  deliberate  deception, 
as  they  had    in    1804    secretly  renounced  Paccanarism, 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  399 

in  the  hands  of  the  Papal  Nuncio,  and  entered  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  as  authorised  in  Russia.  They  dressed 
and  acted  externally  as  secular  priests,  and  were  much 
employed  by  bishops  in  teaching  and  preaching.  From 
the  Congregation  of  the  Virgin  they  not  only  had 
accurate  information  of  what  was  being  said  and  done 
in  every  department  of  French  life,  but  they  obtained 
many  novices  ;  other  youths  joined  the  secular  clergy, 
and  would  in  time  watch  the  interests  of  the  Society 
within  that  body.  Orders  were  now  given  that  the 
Jesuits  must  work  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  secular 
clergy  and  in  most  respectful  submission  to  the  bishops. 

They  grew  rapidly  in  the  course  of  the  next  few 
years,  and  about  18 18  they  began  to  stand  out 
prominently  in  the  religious  life  of  France.  They  were 
especially  employed  in  what  are  known  in  English 
church-life  as  "revival  services."  Eloquent  preachers, 
particularly  when  they  were  denouncing  liberalism  and 
the  "  bad "  tendencies  of  the  times,  they  passed  from 
town  to  town  lashing  up  the  fervour  of  the  Catholics. 
Large  crucifixes  were  planted  on  the  wayside  as 
memorials  of  their  oratory ;  enthusiastic  processions 
marched  through  the  streets ;  in  places  the  churches 
were  so  crowded  that  one  had  to  spend  the  night  at 
the  door  to  secure  a  place  near  the  pulpit.  They  were 
the  Peres  de  la  Foi,  Catholics  said  (with  a  smile);  but 
critics  maintained  that  they  were  Jesuits,  and  there 
were  towns  where  the  missionaries  were  assaulted  and 
expelled.  A  very  serious  controversy  raged  in  the 
French  press  as  to  whether  there  were  really  any 
Jesuits  in  France  ;  even  when,  in  1822,  a  Liberal 
journal  obtained  and  published  a  letter  of  General 
Fortis  to  one  of  his  French  subjects,  it  was  difficult  to 
convict  them. 

At    this  period,  in    the   early    twenties,    the    famous 


400  THE  JESUITS 

Abbe  de  Lamennais  was  seeking  to  form  a  democratic 
Christian  body,  and  he  made  an  effort  to  secure  the 
support  of  the  Jesuits.  Louis  xviii.  was  one  of  the 
more  moderate  of  the  restored  monarchs ;  but  the 
democratic  feeHng  was  still  strong  in  France  and,  as 
the  clergy  were  generally  reactionary,  democracy,  of 
which  Lamennais  foresaw  the  triumph,  was  allied  with 
Voltaireanism.  Lamennais  was  convinced  that  the  hour 
of  feudal  monarchs  was  over,  and  the  Church  could  be 
saved  only  by  allying  itself  with  the  people.  The 
development  of  French  history  has  shown  the  truth  of 
his  view.  Democracy  has  triumphed,  and  the  Church 
has  shrunk  to — M.  Sabatier  tells  me — less  than  one- 
sixth  of  the  population.  Seeing  the  apparent  power  of 
the  Jesuit  missionaries,  Lamennais,  who  was  very 
friendly  with  them,  earnestly  begged  them  to  incorporate 
his  policy  in  their  preaching. 

The  attitude  of  the  Jesuits  toward  Lamennais  is 
interesting.  They  hesitated  for  years,  broke  into 
sections,  and  eventually  had  to  forbid  all  public  dis- 
cussion of  the  issue.  In  1821  some  of  their  members 
were  censured  for  attacking  Lamennais,  in  the  next 
year  others  were  censured  for  supporting  him ;  and 
Rozaven,  the  French  Assistant  at  Rome,  directed  that 
"prudence"  forbade  them  to  take  either  side  in  public. 
Later,  as  they  still  wavered  and  contradicted  each 
other.  General  Fortis  sternly  prohibited  public  expression 
on  the  subject.  Fortis  died  in  1829,  and  Lamennais 
made  a  fresh  appeal  to  the  Jesuits  to  "  turn  from 
monarchs  to  the  people  "  ;  but  Roothaan  maintained  the 
attitude  of  his  predecessor.  When  Lamennais  was 
eventually  condemned,  the  Jesuits  eagerly  pointed  out 
that  they  had  declined  to  support  him. 

This  situation  is  interesting,  because  it  exhibits  the 
Jesuits  shrinking  nervously  from  the  greatest  social  issue 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  401 

of  their  time.     They  retort  that  it  was  a  political  issue, 
and  their  traditions  forbade  them  to  discuss  politics.      It 
is  in  a  sense  true  that  the  Jesuits  had  always  abstained 
from  political  theorising,  and  bowed  to  the  actual  ruling 
power ;  except  in  cases  where  the  ruling  power  incom- 
moded them,  when  they  might  become  the  most  violent 
of  revolutionaries.     But,  apart  from  the  question  whether 
the  issue  was  not  moral  in  the  finest  sense  of  the  word, 
it  is  ludicrous  to  affirm  that  the  "political"  nature    of 
Lamennais's  gospel    prevented  them    from    considering 
It  when,  in  every  country  where  a  reactionary  monarch 
called  them  to    his  aid,  they  were   violent  partisans  of 
the    aristocratic   gospel.     For    twenty   years    they    had 
mamtained  that  the  political  storms  which  swept  the  old 
monarchs  from  their  thrones  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  were  direcdy  due  to  the  removal  of  their  control 
of  the  schools  and  universities.     They  had  been  restored 
to  life  for  the  express  purpose  of  reconciling  Europe  to 
the  old  order,  and  destroying  the  aspiration  for  democratic 
reform,  and  it  was  only  in  the  cantons  of  Switzerland 
that  they  were  found  to  hold  a  different  theory  of  the 
social  order  ;  though,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Swiss  cantons 
were    then    rather   aristocratic   than    democratic.      It    is 
plain    that    in  France  they  hesitated  only  because    the 
future    was  uncertain.     Their  real  aim  was    to   restore 
the  age  of  Louis  xiv.,  but  this  new  democratic  movement 
looked  formidable.     They  would    wait    and    be   guided 
by  the  issue. 

The  Catholic  democrats  turned  angrily  on  the 
Jesuits  for  their  attitude  on  this  great  issue,  and  accused 
them  of  gross  ignorance  of,  and  indifference  to,  social 
conditions  :  an  entirely  just  censure.  But  their'  power 
was  growing  in  every  decade.  New  Congregations 
appeared,— societies  for  persuading  lovers  to  marry  in 
church,  for  preserving  students  from  liberalism,  and 
26 


402  THE  JESUITS 

so  on, — and  the  Congregation  of  our  Lady  now  included 
half  the  nobility  and  higher  clergy,  and  numbers  of 
writers,  lawyers,  politicians,  and  officials.  Their  French 
apologist,  who  was  himself  a  member  of  the  Congrega- 
tion and  lived  in  Paris  at  this  time,  admits  that  the  secret 
influence  of  the  Congregation  was  such  that  many  made 
a  profession  of  religion  and  joined  it  in  order  to  promote 
their  material  interests.  Charles  x.,  who  succeeded  Louis 
in  1824,  renewed  their  confidence.  He  opened  his 
career  with  Liberal  measures  ;  but  he  was  more 
reactionary  at  heart  than  Louis  xviii.,  and  less  prudent, 
and  the  Jesuits  silently  organised  their  forces  for  a 
restoration  of  the  Society. 

The  educated  Frenchman  now  commonly  united  the 
scepticism  of  Voltaire  with  the  moderate  democracy  of 
Lafayette,  and  an  angry  storm  broke  out  in  the  Liberal 
press.     The   open   activity  of  the  "  Paccanarists "    was 
an  affront  to  the  Constitution,  and  the  secret  manoeuvres 
of  the  Congregation,  notoriously  led  by  Father  Ronsin, 
alarmed     them.     The    authorities    discreedy    removed 
Father    Ronsin    from    Paris,    but     the    work    of    the 
Congregation  proceeded.     Charles  x.  was  suspected  of 
favouring   the    Jesuits.      In    1828    the    Nuncio    openly 
proposed  that  the  Society  should  be  restored.     We  may 
take  the  word  of   Cretineau-Joly  that  the  ground  had 
been  so  well  prepared  that  a  measure  could  have  been 
passed  safely  through  the  two  Houses.     But  Villele,  the 
French  historian  says,  was  so  misguided  as  to  appeal 
to  the  country  first,  and  he  lost.     The  question  of  the 
Jesuits  was  not  the  least  of  the  issues  at  stake.     Showers 
of  pamphlets  fell  upon  the  public,  and  the  popular  feeling 
was  such   that  when  the  King  was  one  day  reviewing 
the  National  Guard,  the  cry,   "  Down  with  the  Jesuits," 
rang  out  from  the  ranks,  and  the  review  was  abandoned. 
The  more  moderate  ministry  of  Martignac  had  now 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  403 

to  be  formed,  and,  as  it  needed  the  co-operation  of  the 
Liberals,  the  plan  to  restore  the  Jesuits  was  abandoned. 
The  Liberals  were  now  encouraged,  and  they  made  a 
fiery  assault.  The  "little  seminaries,"  as  the  French 
called  the  preparatory  colleges  for  the  clergy,  had  been 
left  under  the  control  of  the  bishops,  and  several  of 
them  were  notoriously  controlled  by  the  thinly  disguised 
Jesuits.  A  commission  of  bishops,  with  the  Archbishop 
of  Paris  at  their  head,  was  appointed  to  examine  the 
charge,  and  it  was  determined  that  eioht  of  the 
seminaries  were  really  Jesuit  colleges,  and  must  be 
closed  ;  it  was  further  enacted  that  the  seminaries  were 
to  be  taken  from  the  bishops  and  put  under  the  control 
of  the  universities,  that  the  number  of  pupils  was  to  be 
restricted,  and  that  no  priest  should  henceforth  he 
allowed  to  teach  in  them  who  did  not  take  oath  that  he 
did  not  belong  to  a  non-authorised  Congregation.  The 
bishops,  many  of  whom  had  won  their  seats  by  Jesuit 
influence,  protested  in  vain  against  this  violation  of  their 
rights.  Their  protest  made  matters  worse,  since  they 
stipulated  that  it  should  remain  secret];  but  the  Liberal 
press  secured  the  text  and  published  it. 

This  was  a  very  severe  blow  to  the  French  Jesuits, 
who  had  used  the  seminaries  for  training  lay  pupils  in 
their  spirit  as  well  as  teaching  the  secular  priests  to  rely 
on  them.  While  the  French  press  was  discussing  the 
question  whether  they  existed  in  the  country,  they  had 
grown  to  the  number  of  436,  and  had  two  novitiates  and 
several  residences,  besides  the  seminaries.  They  now 
determined  to  take  bolder  measures  against  the  enemy. 
As  I  said,  the  question  of  the  Jesuits  was  by  no  means 
the  only  serious  issue  under  discussion ;  Martignac 
received  only  a  moderate  and  uncertain  support  from  his 
Liberal  allies  because  his  measures  were  not  sufficiently 
advanced.       It    is,    however,    clear    that    the    Jesuits, 


404  THE  JESUITS  ' 

through  the  Nuncio,  had  their  share  in  inducing  the 
King  to  replace  the  moderate  Martignac  with  the 
thoroughly  conservative  Polignac.  This  was  in  July 
1829.  ''The  reply  of  the  people,  when  the  ministry 
returned  to  the  old  coercive  measures,  was  the  July 
Revolution  of  1830.  The  chief  Jesuit  houses,  at 
Montrouge  and  St.  Acheul,  were  sacked  by  the  mob, 
and  the  fathers  scattered  in  every  direction.  Once  more 
they  had  suffered  a  heavy  defeat  on  what  they  believed 
to  be  the  eve  of  victory. 

The  revolutionary  wave  spread,  with  devastating 
force,  to  Italy,  as  we  saw;  and  there  also  the  fathers 
were  for  a  time  driven  contemptuously  from  their 
colleges.  Their  recovery  in  France  was  naturally 
slower  than  in  Italy.  They  moved  in  fear  of  their  lives 
for  the  first  year  or  two  of  the  reign  of  Louis  Philippe, 
and  generally  concealed  themselves  in  devoted  Catholic 
houses.  In  1832  the  cholera  swept  France,  and  they 
recollected  how  frequently  heroic  conduct  in  such 
epidemics  had  disarmed  their  critics.  But  France  was 
not  so  easily  reconciled  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
the  few  who  ventured  to  appear  during  the  following 
years  were  arrested.  In  the  course  of  time,  however, 
the  resentment  was  confined  to  the  more  ardent  Liberals, 
and  they  resumed  the  semi-public  existence  of  the 
previous  decade.  Catholicism  made  great  progress  in 
the  thirties,  chiefly  through  the  agency  of  a  brilliant 
group  of  laymen,  and  some  of  the  Jesuits  took  an  open 
part  in  the  revival.  Father  de  Ravignan,  their  finest 
orator,  occupied  the  pulpit  of  Notre  Dame  for  several 
seasons,  and  they  were  assiduous  in  giving  retreats  to 

the  clergy. 

As  they  no  longer  ventured  to  teach, — though  it  was 
known  that  they  had  opened  a  college  for  French  pupils 
just   over    the    Belgian    frontier,— and    betrayed   their 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  405 

character  in   no  external  action,  they   were  legally  un- 
assailable ;  but  it  was  not  long  before  they  again  drew 
on    themselves   the    ire   of  the   Liberals.      From    1840 
onwards   the  clergy  made   a    vehement   attack  on   the 
professors    of    the    university.       Since    these    included 
philosophers  like   Cousin  and    Jouffroy,    historians   like 
Michelet,  and  men  of  letters  like  Jules  Simon,  we  can 
easily  believe  that   their  lectures  were  at  times  incon- 
sistent with  orthodox  ideas  ;  but  the  attack  was  gross  and 
exaggerated,   and    the   professors    felt    that    the   Jesuits 
secretly  guided  it ;  Father  de  Ravignan,  in  fact,  joined 
in  the  spirited  conflict  of  pens.     The  chief  result  was  to 
draw  on  the  Jesuits  the  sardonic  humour  of  Michelet, 
the  weighty  censures  of  Cousin,  the   poisonous  raillery 
of  Simon,  and  the  unrestrained  diatribes  of  the  popular 
Liberal  press.      It  was  during  this  agitation  that  Eugene 
Sue  lashed  them  with  his  Juif  Ej^rant,  and  George  Sand 
wrote   Consuelo.      Against   this  fierce  and  brilliant  on- 
slaught the  publication  of  Cretineau-Joly's  Histoire  was 
a  feeble  defence  ;  it  could  carry  no  conviction  except  to 
the  already  convinced  and  uncritical  Catholic.      Indeed, 
its  treatment  of  Clement  xiv.  scandalised  many  Catholics, 
and,  as  we  saw,  Pius  ix.  directed  the  Vatican  Archivist 
to  refute  it.^ 

Louis  Philippe  was  at  length  compelled  to  take 
action.  Catholic  writers  treated  it  as  an  amusinof  scare 
that  there  were  Jesuits  in  France,  and  were  not  a  little 
mortified  when  the  fathers  betrayed  their  existence  in  a 

^  It  seems  to  have  been  on  account  of  this  slanderous  attack  on  the 
Pope,  as  well  as  to  give  it  an  air  of  impartiality,  that  General  Roothaan 
publicly  denied  that  the  Jesuits  had  assisted  the  author.  The  learned  Abbe 
Guettee,  in  the  Histoire  des  Je'suites,  which  he  published  soon  afterwards, 
tells  us  that,  not  yet  knowing  his  hostility  to  them,  some  of  the  Jesuits  o 
Paris  freely  acknowledged  to  him  their  share  in  the  work.  In  any  case,  the 
Jesuits  were  obviously  in  close  co-operation  with  the  writer,  since  he  speaks 
constantly  of  having  before  his  eyes  unpublished  documents  which  belonged 
to  the  Society. 


4o6  THE  JESUITS 

way   which   entertained   the    Liberal  pamphleteers.     In 
1845  one  of  their  treasurers  embezzled  the  funds  entrusted 
to  him,  and  they  imprudently  prosecuted.      In  the  con- 
troversy which   followed   it  was   made  plain   that  there 
were  two  hundred  members  of  the  forbidden  Society  in 
France,   and   their   expulsion    was   stormily    demanded. 
The  King  knew  that  if  he  suppressed  the  "  Fathers  of 
the  Faith  "  they  would  do  no  more  than  change  their 
name,   and    he    adopted    a    shrewder   policy.      He    sent 
Rossi  to  Rome  to  submit  to  the  Pope  that  the  relations 
of  France  and  the  Vatican  would  be  much  improved  if 
the    Jesuits    were    removed    by    ecclesiastical  authority. 
The  dignity  of  the  Holy  See  was  saved  by  a  pleasant 
little    comedy.       The    Congregation    of    Extraordinary 
Ecclesiastical    Affairs  reported    that   the    request   could 
not   be   granted,  and    the    Pope    firmly  replied    to    the 
French  envoy  in  that  sense.      But  a  private  intimation 
was  made   to   General    Roothaan  that  it  was  desirable 
to    meet   the   wishes  of  the    King,  and    Rossi   was   in- 
structed to  see   him.     Whatever  the  precise   nature   of 
the  intimation  was,   Roothaan  submitted  to  his  French 
subjects   that   it  was    expedient    to  dissolve   their  chief 
communities, — at  Paris,  St.  Acheul,  Lyons,  and  Avignon, 
— and  they  once  more  retreated  sullenly  from  the  field. 
We  shall  see  later  how  they  found  a  fitting  patron  in 
Napoleon    iii.,    and    how    the    third    Republic    put    a 
definitive  close  to  their  activity  in  France. 

Their  fortunes  in  Spain  during  the  nineteenth  century 
have  been  more  chequered  than  their  present  prosperity 
would  suggest.  On  15th  May  181 5,  Ferdinand  vii. 
repealed  the  drastic  sentence  of  his  great  predecessor, 
and  ordered  that  their  former  property  should  be  restored 
to  the  Jesuits.  A  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  old  members 
of  the  Society  returned  to  their  native  land  ;  colleges 
and  novitiates  were  opened  by  means  of  the    restored 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  407 

property  and  the  royal  bounty ;  and,  we  are  told,  town 
after  town  demanded,  and  enthusiastically  welcomed,  its 
former  teachers.  We  can  well  believe  that  the  mobs 
which  saluted  the  perjured  Ferdinand  with  the  cry, 
"  Down  with  Liberty,"  would  welcome  the  Jesuits.  In 
the  recoil  due  to  their  hatred  of  the  French,  and  of  the 
new  ideas  which  the  French  had  brought  into  Spain, 
the  densely  ignorant  mass  of  the  people  fell  at  the  feet 
of  a  brutal  monarch  and  a  corrupt  clergy.  The  educated 
middle  class,  however,  remained  substantially  Liberal. 
They  had  admitted  Ferdinand  only  on  condition  that  he 
promised  to  maintain  their  Liberal  Constitution,  and,  as 
soon  as  he  had  attained  the  crown,  he  tore  his  promise 
and  the  Constitution  to  shreds  and  fell  with  terrible  cruelty 
on  the  Liberals.  Known  Liberals  were  at  once  executed, 
imprisoned  for  life,  or  banished ;  the  Inquisition  was 
restored  ;  and  a  network  of  spies  spread  over  the  king- 
dom. Men,  women,  and  children  were  savagely  punished, 
and  a  "Society  of  the  Exterminating  Angel"  arose  to 
strengthen  and  direct  the  bloody  hands  of  the  King  and 
the  Inquisitors. 

Those  five  years  of  Spanish  history  constitute  one  of 
the  most  repulsive  chapters  in  the  chronicle  of  modern 
Europe.  Unfortunately,  it  is  not  possible  to  determine 
what  part  the  restored  Jesuits  had  in  this  reign  of  terror. 
All  the  clergy  and  monks  of  Spain  were  allied  with  their 
monarch  in  prosecuting  what  they  regarded  as  a  holy 
war.  It  is  enough  that  the  Jesuits  did  not  dissent  from 
the  barbaric  proceedings  of  Ferdinand,  and  that  they 
flourished  and  were  more  than  doubled  in  number  within 
five  years.  The  year  1820  found  them  increased  to  397, 
with  several  novitiates  and  a  large  number  of  colleges. 

And  the  year  1820  gives  us  some  measure  of  their 
guilt  in  connection  with  the  preceding  years.  The  middle 
class  was  still  strong  enough,  or  humane  enough,  to  put 


408  THE  JESUITS 

an  end  to  the  disgraceful  horrors,  and  reaffirm  the  liberal 
constitution  of  1810.  The  Cortes  was  summoned,  and, 
although  its  members  were  still  predominandy  Catholic, 
it  was  determined,  with  only  one  dissentient,  to  expel  the 
Jesuits.  The  terrified  King  yielded  to  the  deputies,  and 
in  August  the  four  hundred  Jesuits  were  pensioned  and 
ordered  to  quit  the  country.  Unfortunately,  the  French 
King  espoused  the  cause  of  his  "  cousin,"  and  his  troops 
restored  the  savage  autocracy  of  Ferdinand  and  the 
power  of  the  Jesuits.  The  reign  of  terror  returned,  and 
even  the  other  Catholic  monarchs  of  Europe  were 
shocked  by  the  outrages  committed  and  permitted  by 
Ferdinand.  Again  it  is  impossible  to  disentangle  the 
share  of  the  Jesuits  in  this  comprehensive  guilt.  Their 
chief  task  was  to  educate  the  young  in  "better"  senti- 
ments. The  College  of  Nobles  and  a  large  military 
college  at  Segura  were  entrusted  to  them,  and  they 
reoccupied  their  former  colleges.  But  neither  priests 
nor  ruler  put  confidence  in  educational  methods.  It  is 
enough  to  note  that  a  conservative  authority  on  Spain, 
Major  Hume,  says  of  the  renewed  reign  of  terror : 
"  Modern  civilsation  has  seen  no  such  instance  of  brutal, 
blind  ferocity." 

This  appalling  condition  lasted,  almost  continuously, 
until  the  death  of  Ferdinand  in  1833.  Then  the  country 
entered  upon  the  long  Carlist  war,  and  the  Jesuits  were 
soon  expelled  for  the  third  time.  While  Queen  Christina 
allied  herself  with  the  Liberals,  Don  Carlos  rallied  to  his 
standard  the  absolutists  and  Ultramontanes,  and  the 
great  majority  of  the  clergy  supported  him.  It  is  usually 
and  confidendy  said  that  the  Jesuits,  like  the  rest  of  the 
clergy,  supported  Don  Carlos;  but  when  we  recollect 
their  maxim  of  not  taking  sides  openly  in  an  ambiguous 
conflict,  or  taking  both  sides,  we  shall  not  expect  to  find 
any  proof  of  this    in  the  early  stages.     Not    only    the 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  409 

Liberals  but  the  mass  of  the  people  in  Madrid  were 
persuaded  that  they  were  on  the  side  of  Don  Carlos,  and 
they  saw  hatred  gathering  on  every  side  of  them.  In 
1834  the  cholera  descended  on  the  capital.  Such  occa- 
sions had  generally  served  the  Jesuits,  but  this  fresh 
affliction  only  further  irritated  the  people  against  them. 
The  cry  was  raised  that  the  Jesuits  and  the  Carlists  had 
poisoned  the  water-supply,  and  it  seems  that,  by  some 
strange  accident  or  plot,  children  were  found  on  the 
street  with  small  quantities  of  arsenic.  In  the  afternoon 
of  17th  July  the  citizens  flung  themselves  upon  the 
houses  of  the  Jesuits  and  other  religious,  and  a  fierce 
riot  ensued.  Fourteen  Jesuits,  forty-four  Franciscans, 
and  fifteen  Dominicans  and  others  were  slain  in  the 
struggle.  Some  of  their  provincial  houses  also  were 
sacked  or  closed,  and  the  inmates  had  to  fly  for  their 
lives. 

In  the  following  year,  1835,  the  Society  was  again 
proscribed,  by  the  Regent  Christina,  and  the  Jesuits  were 
scattered.  They  now  sided  openly  with  Don  Carlos. 
Alleging,  as  usual,  that  they  were  indifferent  to  politics 
and  must  discharge  the  spiritual  services  demanded  of 
them  under  any  banner,  they  followed  in  the  rear  of  the 
advancing  Carlists  and  opened  colleges  in  the  districts 
conquered  by  them.  One  Jesuit  guarded  the  conscience 
of  Don  Carlos,  another  was  tutor  to  his  children,  and 
others  ministered  in  his  camps.  At  length  an  abler 
Christinist  General,  Espartero,  cleared  the  Carlists  from 
the  Basque  Provinces  and  closed  the  Jesuit  houses.  By 
the  time  of  the  revolution  of  1848  there  were  none  but 
a  few  disguised  and  timid  sdrvivors  of  the  Society  in 
Spain. 

From  Portugal  the  Jesuits  were  rigorously  excluded 
during  fifteen  years  after  the  restoration  of  the  Society. 
John  VI.,  a  constitutional  and  sober  monarch,  refused  to 


410  THE  JESUITS 

irritate  his  subjects  by  admitting  them,  and  had  no  need 
of  their  stifling  influence  on  education  in  Portugal.  He 
resisted  all  the  pressure  of  Rome  in  their  interest,  and 
observed  the  Liberal  Constitution  which  he  had  accepted. 
His  CTranddau^hter  Maria  succeeded  to  his  throne  and 
policy  in  1826,  under  the  regency  of  her  uncle,  Dom 
Mio-uel.  Here  again  the  Jesuits  were  admitted  in  virtue 
of  an  act  of  treachery  and  throve  in  an  atmosphere  of 
savagery.  Dom  Miguel  intrigued  for  the  throne,  and, 
when  he  took  an  oath  to  respect  the  Liberal  Constitution, 
was  permitted  to  occupy  it.  "  His  Jesuit  training,"  says 
the  Cambridge  Modern  History  (x.  321),  "would  make 
it  easy  for  him  to  rest  content  with  the  absolution  of  the 
Church  for  a  breach  of  faith  committed  on  behalf  of  the 
o-ood  cause."  He  at  once  violated  his  oath  and  turned 
with  ferocity  upon  the  Liberals.  It  is  estimated  by  some 
of  the  Portuguese  writers  that  more  than  60,000  were 
executed,  deported,  or  imprisoned  in  the  next  four 
years. 

Such  was  the  second  of  the  leading  Catholic 
monarchs  to  seek  the  aid  of  the  Jesuits.  None  of  the 
members  of  the  old  Portuguese  Province  could  be  dis- 
covered, or  induced  to  resume  work  in  a  bitterly  hostile 
world,  and  eight  Jesuits  had  to  be  sent  from  France,  in 
1829,  to  begin  the  work  of  restoration.  They  make 
little  pretence  of  an  enthusiastic  reception  in  this  case. 
None  of  their  former  property  was  restored,  and  for 
a  time  they  had  to  take  refuge  in  the  houses  of  rival 
orders.  They  had,  however,  their  usual  good  fortune  to 
attract  the  sympathy  of  noble  ladies,  and  were  enabled 
to  secure  their  old  house  at  Lisbon  in  the  following- 
year.  When  the  King  saw  that  no  violent  upheaval 
followed  their  arrival,  he  began  to  patronise  them,  and 
secured  for  them  their  famous  college  at  Coimbra.  In 
the  same  year  they  had  the  satisfaction  of  establishing 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  411 

a  house  at  Pombal,  where  their  old  antagonist  had  died, 
and  their  superior  describes,  in  an  edifying  letter,  how 
he  at  once  "  ran  to  say  a  prayer  over  the  tomb  of  the 
Marquis"  ;  he  was  deeply  pained,  it  seems,  to  find  that 
the  remains  of  Pombal  had  not  even  yet  been  interred, 
while  the  children  of  Ignatius  were  received  with  honour 
in  his  name-place. 

But  the  ferocity  of  Miguel  had  already  deeply  stirred 
the  population,  and  in  the  following  year  the  defrauded 
young  Queen's  father,  Don  Pedro,  Emperor  of  Brazil, 
crossed  the  ocean  to  secure  her  rights  and  the  Con- 
stitution. The  Jesuits  were  painfully  perplexed.  Don 
Pedro  seems  to  have  felt  that  he  could  not  hope  for  a 
lasting  triumph  without  the  aid  of  the  Jesuits,  and  he 
made  a  secret  offer  to  them,  in  an  autograph  letter  (in 
March),  of  his  protection  and  favour  if  they  would  desert 
Miguel.  The  issue  was  uncertain,  and,  when  Don 
Pedro  entered  Lisbon  in  July,  the  Jesuits  assured  him 
that  his  letter  had  reached  their  hands  too  late  for  them 
to  consider  his  offer.  They  had  remained  ideally  neutral 
in  the  war,  and  had  nursed  the  cholera  victims  in  both 
camps  with  religious  impartiality. 

The  people  of  Lisbon  saved  Don  Pedro  from  the 
dilemma  which  this  excellent  or  prudent  conduct  im- 
posed on  him.  On  29th  July  a  mixed  throng  of  soldiers 
and  citizens  assaulted  and  sacked  the  Jesuit  residence. 
It  would  have  gone  very  hard  with  the  fathers  them- 
selves had  not  certain  English  naval  officers  chivalrously 
saved  them.  In  the  following  May  (1834)  Don  Pedro 
renewed  the  sentence  of  suppression.  From  their  hand- 
some college  at  Coimbra  they  were  conveyed  to  Lisbon, 
to  face  the  hoots  and  taunts  of  a  rejoicing  mob,  and 
then  to  be  deposited  in  prison.  The  French  afterwards 
secured  their  release  from  prison,  but  they  have  never 
since  had  a  legal  existence  in  the  land  of  Pombal, 


412  THE  JESUITS 

We  turn  next  to  England,  to  study  the  fortunes  of 
the  followers  of  Ignatius  up  to  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  Jesuits  had  availed  themselves  of  the  more 
tolerant  spirit  of  the  age  of  the  Georges,  and  again 
increased  to  a  considerable  body.  Their  colleges  in 
Spain,  France,  and  Belgium  received  numbers  of  young 
Catholic  aspirants,  and  we  find  that  at  the  time  of  the 
suppression  of  the  Society  the  English  Province  boasted 
274  members,  of  whom  143  were  actually  in  England. 
The  suppression  in  Spain  and  France  reduced  their 
colleges ;  the  two  colleges  at  Bruges  were  violently 
closed  by  the  authorities  in  1773  ;  there  remained  only  a 
house  at  Liege  and  the  English  missions  at  Liverpool, 
Preston,  Bristol,  and  a  few  other  towns. 

They  continued  to  live  in  community  in  these  resi- 
dences after  the  abolition  of  the  Society,  and  minister 
as  secular  priests.  In  1794  their  situation  was  again 
altered  by  the  French  invasion  of  Belgium,  when  the 
English  fathers  were  expelled  from'  their  last  continental 
seat,  at  Liege.  The  disaster  proved,  however,  to  be 
the  starting-point  of  their  more  prosperous  modern 
development  in  England,  One  of  their  old  pupils, 
Thomas  Weld,  offered  them  a  house  and  estate  at 
Stonyhurst,  near  Preston,  and  on  29th  August  the 
refugees  reached  what  was  destined  to  be  one  of  their 
most  important  centres.  They  opened  a  school — to  be 
directed  by  certain  "  gentlemen  from  Liege  " — and  quiedy 
awaited  the  future. 

In  the  meantime  the  ex-Jesuits  who  had  remained  in 
England  bore  their  disgrace  very  impatiently.  One  of 
their  number,  Father  Thorpe,  wrote  in  1785  so  scurril- 
ous a  Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Government  of  Pope 
Cietnent  xiv.  that  his  colleagues  had  to  withdraw  it 
from  publication  at  the  demand  of  their  own  admirers. 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  413 

In  the  following  year  the  English  ex-Jesuits  opened  a 
correspondence  with  their  rebellious  colleagues  in  Russia, 
and,  although  they  could  devise  no  pretext  whatever  for 
disobeying  the  Pope  in  England,  they  offered  to  unite 
with  the  Russians.  Their  proposal  was  declined  or 
postponed,  and  they  waited  until  the  Pope  officially 
recognised  the  Russian  Society  in  1801.  By  that  time 
the  Abbe  de  Broglie  had  led  his  little  colony  of  Fathers 
of  the  Faith  from  Austria  to  London  and  opened  a 
college  at  Kensington.  Some  of  the  ex-Jesuits  and 
many  emigrant  French  priests  were  attracted  to  this 
authorised  Congregation,  but  Paccanari  was  now  an 
object  of  suspicion  to  most  of  them,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  there  was  increasing  hope  of  a  restoration  of  the 
Society. 

The  proposal  to  enlist  under  the  Russian  General 
was  now  revived,  and  both  ex-Jesuits  and  Fathers  of 
the  Faith  made  their  way,  secretly  and  individually,  to 
Russia  and  renewed  their  vows.  By  the  year  1804 
there  were  between  eighty  and  ninety  Jesuits  in  England. 
The  general  and  violent  hatred  of  the  French  had  led 
to  much  sympathy  with  the  clerical  victims  of  the 
Revolution,  but  England  was  not  yet  prepared  for  this 
substantial  resurrection  of  the  Jesuits.  Stonyhurst  was 
growing  into  a  large  and  busy  colony,  owing  to  the 
continued  bounty  of  Weld  and  the  return  of  surviving 
members  of  the  old  province,  and  In  1804,  and  more 
peremptorily  In  1807,  the  Government  ordered  the 
dissolution  of  their  communities. 

Such  an  order  was  a  feeble  check  on  their  growth, 
and  they  took  advantage  of  the  successive  movements 
which  aided  the  restoration  of  Catholicism.  The  stream 
of  French  emigrants,  the  Act  of  Toleration  of  1791,  the 
beginning  of  Irish  immigration,  and  the  advocacy  of 
Catholic  Emancipation  by  Pitt  enabled  the  Catholics  to 


414  THE  JESUITS 

enter  the  nineteenth  century  in  increased  numbers. 
The  Catholic  Relief  Act  of  1829  so  inflated  them  that 
they  then  estimated  their  numbers  in  London  alone  as 
146,000,  or  nearly  a  tenth  of  the  population ;  to-day 
they  number  about  one-fiftieth  of  the  population  of 
London.  The  Jesuits  shared  the  growth  with  the  rest 
of  the  clergy.  Between  1826  and  1835  they  built  eleven 
new  churches,  and  in  1830  the  Roman  authorities  made 
a  formal  province  of  the  English  group.  The  Irish 
fathers  had  been  detached  from  the  English  in  1829, 
and  formed  a  vice-province.  Ten  years  later  began  the 
Catholic  movement  within  the  Church  of  England,  to 
the  considerable  profit  of  Rome. 

The  early  history  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  United  States 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  their  modern 
story.  When  the  Society  was  abolished  and  its  mem- 
bers momentarily  discouraged,  John  Carroll,  a  member 
of  the  suppressed  English  Province,  led  a  small  group 
of  fathers  to  the  North  American  Colony.  He  became 
friendly  with  Washington  and  other  leaders  of  the 
insurrection,  and  is  said  to  have  had  some  influence 
in  shaping  the  Liberal  clauses  of  the  new  Constitution. 
In  1789  he  became  Bishop  of  Baltimore,  and  another 
ex-Jesuit,  Father  Neale,  was  afterwards  made  his 
coadjutor.  This  transferred  the  American  mission  from 
the  control  of  the  English  Vicar  Apostolic,  and  made 
Carroll  head  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States.  In 
1803  we  find  Carroll  writing  to  General  Gruber  that 
there  are  a  dozen  aged  ex-Jesuits  in  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania,  with  sufiicient  property  (of  the  older 
Maryland  mission)  to  support  thirty  ;  they  wish  to  join 
Gruber's  authorised  Society  and  receive  an  accession 
of  strength.  The  Russian  Jesuits  had  justified  their 
rebellion  on  the  ground  that  the  secular  monarch  had 
forbidden  them  to  lay  aside  their  habits ;  the  Americans 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  415 

said  it  was  enouorh  that  there  was  in  America  no  secular 
monarch  to  forbid  them  to  wear  it.  The  Papacy  counted 
for  little  with  any  of  them. 

Gruber  complied,  and  the  foundations  were  laid  of 
the  prosperity  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  United  States.  In 
the  early  years  little  progress  was  made.  The  new- 
comers were  young  foreigners,  and  the  population  was 
scattered  and  generally  hostile.  One  of  the  German 
fathers  was  actually  arrested  and  tried  for  not  betraying 
the  confession  of  a  thief,  but  the  controversy  which 
followed  rather  promoted  their  interest.  They  shrewdly 
established  their  chief  college  and  centre  at  George- 
town, near  Washington,  and  gradually  won  the  regard 
of  American  statesmen,  who  visited  and  granted  privileges 
to  the  college.  By  the  year  18 18  there  were  86  Jesuits 
in  the  ^United  States,  and  recruits  were  arriving  from 
Europe.  A  novitiate  had  been  opened  at  White  Marsh 
in  181 5,  but  few  novices  could  be  secured  in  America. 
In  fact,  as  they  followed  their  usual  custom  of  making 
no  charge  for  education,  they  had  a  severe  struggle 
with  poverty  everywhere.  In  1822  the  authorities  at 
Rome  ordered  them  to  close  the  school  at  Washington, 
as  it  could  no  longer  maintain  itself  without  charging. 
The  rector.  Father  Kelly,  defied  his  superiors  for  a 
time,  and  maintained  the  school  on  the  fees  of  pupils  ; 
but  Americanism  was  not  yet  sufficiently  developed  to 
sustain  this,  and  Father  Kelly  was  expelled  from  the 
Society. 

Memories  of  the  "black  robes"  lingered  among  the 
Indians,  and  it  was  suggested,  time  after  time,  that  the 
fathers  should  return  to  their  work  among  them,  and 
amoncrst  the  blacks  of  the  south  and  the  islands.  Their 
historian  makes  a  lengthy  and  very  earnest  apology  for 
their  refusal,  during  ten  or  twenty  years,  to  listen  to  this 
suggestion.     They  remembered  how  their  work  amongst 


4i6  THE  JESUITS 

the  Indians  had  been  "misinterpreted";  they  were  too 
few  in  number  to  spare  men  for  distant  fields  ;  in  fine, 
they  foresaw  the  greatness  of  the  United  States  and 
"preferred  the  certain  to  the  uncertain."  The  truth 
seems  to  be  that  commerce  in  blankets  and  beaver-skins 
was  not  possible  in  the  nineteenth  century.  After  1840, 
however,  they  sent  missionaries  among  the  Indians,  and 
won  a  great  affection  among  them.  By  that  time  the 
Missouri  Province  alone  had  148  Jesuits,  and  the  Mary- 
land Province  103. 

It  is  clear  that  the  early  Jesuits  laboured  devotedly 
to  arrest  the  enormous  lapse  from  the  Church  of  Rome 
in  the  United  States  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  We  need  pay  little  attention  to  their  boasts  of 
conversions.  Catholic  immigrants  were  now  arriving  in 
millions,  and  were  passing  out  into  the  lonely  districts 
and  small  towns,  where  their  faith  was  quickly  forgotten. 
In  1636  the  Bishop  of  Charlestown  estimated  the  loss  at 
nearly  four  millions  in  his  diocese  alone.  Many  of  the 
Jesuits  went  out  among  the  struggling  pioneers  and  led 
lives  of  great  self-sacrifice.  Their  energies  were,  how- 
ever, mainly  concentrated  on  the  aggrandisement  of 
their  schools  and  conciliation  of  politicians  in  cities  like 
Washington,  They  made  sure  of  power  in  the  great 
Republic  they  foresaw.  It  may  be  added  that  the 
Society  was  at  the  same  time  spreading  in  Mexico. 
Restored  under  Ferdinand,  they  undertook,  as  in  Spain, 
to  check  or  destroy  the  Liberal  principles  which  had 
taken  root  in  Mexico.  For  this  they  were  banished  in 
1 82 1,  when  the  news  came  of  the  Liberal  triumph 
in   Spain,    and    did    not    return    to   open    activity   until 

1843. 

In  the  Germanic  lands,  except  Belgium,  the  restored 

Jesuits  had  a  severe  struggle  throughout  the  nineteenth 

century.     Austria  and  Bavaria   refused    to   publish  the 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  417 

bull    of  restoration    or    comply    with    it,    to    the   great 
mortification    of   the   Jesuits.      Metternich,  at   least*^  re- 
tained the  spirit    of  Joseph    11.,  and  Ferdinand  11. 'was 
not  yet  disposed  to  tempt  his  subjects  by   readmitting 
them.      Prussia  was,  of   course,  still  closed  against  the 
Jesuits  as  Jesuits.     The  first  serious  attempt  to  gain  a 
footing  in  Germany  was  made  in  1820,  when  the  fathers 
who    had    been    driven    from    Russia   appeared    on  the 
Austrian  frontier  and  humbly  asked  permission  to  cross 
the  Emperor's  territory.     They  might  "cross,"  he  drily 
answered ;  and  when  they  secured  the  customary  inter- 
vention of  noble  dames,  he  permitted  them  to  go  and 
teach  loyalty  among  his  poor  subjects  in  Galicia  and  his 
resdess  subjects  in  Hungary.      He  granted  funds  for  this 
purpose,  and   they  soon  had  a    flourishing  Province  in 
Galicia,  and  a  general  control  of  education.     Even  here 
they    were   subject    to    the    bishops,    and    the    imperial 
decrees    intimate    that    there    was    much    suspicion   and 
hostility.     In    1829,    Styria   and    other  provinces    were 
opened  to  them,  though  the  opposition  was  so  violent 
that  at  Gratz  we   find  them  complaining  of  having  to 
lodge  in  some  kind  of  inn,  with  an  actress  for  neighb^our. 
Ferdinand  11.  died  in   1836,  but  his  successo"?  could 
do  little   for  them    in    face    of   the  prevailing    hostility. 
Father  Beckx,  the  future  General,  was  in  Vienna  at  the 
time.     A  Jesuit  had  at  last  brought  a  ray  of  hope  into 
the  German  camp  by  converting  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Anhalt-Kothen,  and  Father  Beckx  was  confessor  to 
the  Duchess  at  Vienna— and  secret  agent  of  the  Society. 
He  writes  in  1837  that  their  enemies  are  very  powerful, 
and  Josephite  principles  triumphant ;    the  Jesuits   have 
only  one  public  insdtution  in  Austria,  and  are  forbidden 
to  teach.     Ferdinand,  however,  was    not  indisposed  to 
enlist  their  aid  in  fighting  Liberalism,  and  they  quiedy 
spread  in  the  oudying  provinces.     The  Tyrol  was  opened 
27 


4i8  THE  JESUITS 

to  them  in  1838,  and  from  their  old  college  at  Innspruck 
they  proceeded  to  capture  its  schools.  We  shall  see 
presently  how  the  revolutionary  storm  of  1848  drove 
them  from  their  new  acquisitions. 

In  Switzerland  the  fortunes  of  the  Jesuits  were  more 
romantic.  During  the  suppression  they  continued  to 
live  in  communities,  and  carefully  concealed  the  offensive 
title  from  the  eyes  of  Protestant  citizens.  After  18 14 
they  began  to  induce  their  lay  followers  to  petition 
the  authorities  to  sanction  their  return  to  life,  and 
the  long  and  bitter  struggle  over  the  Society  began. 
The  canton  of  Solothurn  was  then  more  than  eighty 
per  cent.  Catholic,  and  in  18 16  the  Grand  Council  was 
urged  to  restore  the  Society.  It  refused,  and  they  then 
made  cautious  efforts  in  Valais  and  Freiburg.  I  am 
aware  that  in  all  these  cases  the  Jesuits  do  not  appear 
in  connection  with  the  petition ;  a  few  influential 
Catholics  appeal  for  the  return,  and  the  Jesuits  are 
depicted  as  serenely  aloof  from  the  negotiations.  We 
are  accustomed  to  pretences  of  this  character.  In  18 18 
the  Grand  Council  of  Freiburg  (which  also  was  nearly 
ninety  per  cent.  Catholic)  decided  by  sixty-nine  votes  to 
forty-two  to  readmit  the  Jesuits  and  entrust  its  schools 
to  them.  At  the  same  time  they  recovered  their  old 
house  at  Brigue,  and  began  to  spread  in  Catholic  Valais. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  third  decade  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  Radicals  began  their  attacks  on 
the  growing  Jesuits.  In  1823  the  fathers  secured  their 
old  college  at  Freiburg,  which  they  had  long  coveted. 
Since  their  settlement  in  Freiburg  this  college  had  been 
in  the  hands  of  the  Franciscan  monks,  who  had  adopted 
the  ideas  of  Pestalozzi,  the  great  Swiss  educationist, 
and  were  doing  admirable  work.  The  bishop  com- 
plained to  the  authorities  of  the  friars'  innovations,  and 
they  were  replaced  by  the  Jesuits.     The  Radicals  of  the 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  419 

town  were  malicious  enough  to  suggest  that  the  Jesuits 
had  intrigued  to  bring  about  this  result,— of  which  of 
course,  there  is  no  proof,— and  on  the  night  of  9-ioth 
March  they  attacked  the  college,  and  were  with  difficulty 
prevented  from  burning  it.  In  the  following  year  the 
Jesuits  were  expelled  from  the  Netherlands  (which 
formed  one  Province  with  Switzerland  and  Saxony)  and 
came  to  swell  the  number  of  their  colleagues  in  Valais 
and  Freiburo- 

In   1836,  however,  when    the    second    revolutionary 
wave  was  passing  over  Europe,  the  Radicals  won  power 
m  the  majority  of  the  cantons  (including  Lucerne,  Frei- 
burg, and  Solothurn).     They  were  not  yet  in  a  position 
to  dislodge  the  Jesuits,  but  there  was  constant  friction 
and  3.  serious  struggle  for  the  federal  authority  began. 
The  aim  of  the  Radicals  was  to  capture  and  strengthen 
the  federal  government,  and  expel  the  Jesuits  (and  other 
religions)  from  the  whole  of  Switzerland.     They  and  the 
"young  Swiss"  were  part  of  the  international   Liberal 
movement,  which  was  everywhere  anti-clerical.^     In  1 844 
the   struggle    became    more    violent.     The    Jesuits    of 
Valais  refusing  to   admit  government   control    of  their 
schools,  a  band  of  armed  Radicals  marched  upon  Sion 
and  had  to  be  defeated  by  the  armed  inhabitants.      In 
the  same  year  the  Jesuits  entered   Lucerne  for  the  first 
time.     A  wealthy  Catholic  farmer  named   Leu  threw  all 
his  energy  into   their  cause,  and   the  Jesuits  aided  by 
sending    a    preacher    occasionally    to    show,    by    suave 
and  conciliatory  sermons,   that    the  suspicion    of   them 
was  wholly  unfounded.      In  face  of  a  storm  of  Protestant 

1  There  were,  of  course,  more  important  issues  at  stake  in  the  Swiss 
struggle.  The  franchise  was  narrow,  and  the  government  aristocratic  in 
the  cantons,  and  the  central  or  federal  power  was  weak.  The  Radicals 
mamly  aimed  at  reforming  these  features,  but  they  were  hardly  less  in- 
flamed at  the  privileges  given  to  the  Jesuites.  In  Valais  the  fathers 
travelled  free  on  the  public  services. 


420  THE  JESUITS 

and  Radical  threats  the  Council  decided  to  admit   the 

Jesuits. 

There  now  spread   through  the  country  a  struggle 
of  passion  which  was    soon    to    culminate    in  a  deadly 
civil    war.      Leu    was    murdered,    and    Catholics    and 
Radicals     faced     each     other     with      intense     hatred. 
Opinions  may  differ  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  Jesuits  in 
pressing  their  ministry,  since  it  is  clear  that  the  purely 
politica?  differences  would  not  have  stained  the  hills  and 
valleys    of    Switzerland    with    blood.     The    war    that 
followed  was  a  religious  war,  and  mainly  a  war  over  the 
Jesuits.      In  the  spring  of  1845  it  was  announced  that 
an  army  of  11,000  Radicals  was  marching  on   Lucerne. 
The  Catholic  Confederation  sent  round  the  fiery  cross, 
and  gathered  an  army  sufficiently  strong  to  defeat  and 
scatter  the  Radicals.      It  was  over  the  corpses  of  these 
opponents  that  the  Jesuits  entered  Lucerne  and  began 
to  teach,  with  passion  still  seething  on  every  side.     A 
o-raver    struggle     impended,     and    both    sides    hastily 
organised.     The    seven    Catholic    cantons    (to    whose 
enterprise  the  French  Jesuits  contributed  98,000  francs) 
formed  a  Sonderbund  [Separate  Alliance],  and  aimed  at 
setting  up  a  Catholic  Republic.     The  Federal  Diet  at 
Berne' ordered  them  to  dissolve,  and  when  they  refused, 
pitted  the  federal  army  against  the  Catholic  troops.     A 
bloody  and  disastrous  war  ended    in  a  victory  for  the 
federal  troops  in  1847,  the  Sonderbund  was  destroyed, 
and  the  Jesuits  (with  the  other   religious  orders)  were 
excluded  from  Switzerland  by  the  Constitution  of  1848. 
The    Jesuits  had    not    waited    for    the    troops  to   enter 
Freiburg  and  Lucerne  ;  they  had  fled  to  the  Tyrol  and 

Austria. 

In  the  Netherlands  the  story  of  the  Jesuits  during 
the  nineteenth  century  has  been  one  of  great  prosperity, 
checked  only  by  a  few  early  reverses.     No  sooner  had 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  421 

the  Pope  issued  the  bull  of  restoration,  and  the  French 
rule  been  destroyed,  than  the  ex-Jesuits  who  lingered  in 
the  country  as  secular  priests  and    the   Fathers  of  the 
Faith  (who  had  at  last  entered  the  Society)  proceeded 
to   organise    their    body.     A    novitiate  was    opened  at 
Rumbeke    and    another   at    Destelberoren,   in    Belmum. 
The    Congress  of   Vienna,  however,  placed  the  united 
Netherlands  under  the  control    of   William  of  Nassau, 
and   he  watched    the    progress  of  the  Jesuits  with   un- 
easiness.    The    former   father  of  the   Faith,  the  Count 
de  Broglie,  was  now  bishop  of  Ghent,  and  he  and  other 
prelates    and    nobles    sedulously   assisted    the    Jesuits. 
The  controversies  which  were  bound  to  arise  after  the 
union    of   Protestant     Holland    and    Catholic    Belgium 
under  one  crown  soon  raged  furiously,  and  William,  in 
the  summer  of  1816,  ordered  the  Jesuits  to  close  their 
novitiate  at  Destelbergen.     They  were  forced  to  retire, 
but   de    Broglie    encouraged  them    to    resist  the  King, 
and  lent  them  his  palace  for  the  maintenance  of  their 
community.       De     Broglie     himself     was      afterwards 
banished  for  assailing  the  Constitution,  and  the  fathers 
were  put  out  of  the  palace  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet 
in   1 8 18.     As  William  threatened    to  expel  them    from 
the  country,  they  removed  the  novitiate  to  Switzerland, 
and  assumed  an  appearance  of  submission.     As,  however, 
they  continued  to  stir  the    Catholics,    William  ordered 
the  bishops  in   1824  to  forbid  them  to  give  retreats  to 
the  clergy,  and  in  the  following  year  he  closed  two  of 
their  residences. 

This  succinct  account  will  suffice  to  introduce  the 
Catholic  revolution  of  1830,  in  which 'Belgium  won  its 
independence.  We  are  again  asked  to  regard  the 
Jesuits  as  idle  spectators  of  the  fierce  Catholic  agitation 
which  ended  in  the  rebellion;  but,  in  view  of  their 
experience  under  William,  it  seems  wiser  to  accept  the 


422  THE  JESUITS 

Dutch  assurance  that  they  played  a  large,  if  secret,  part 
in  it.  The  revolution  was  just,  however,  and  there  were 
other  grounds  than  religion  in  the  dissatisfaction  of  the 
Belgians.^  From  that  date  Belgium  has  been  a  golden 
land  for  the  Jesuits,  and  Protestant  Holland  has  suffered 
them  to  prosper  in  peace.  After  1830  they  literally 
overran  Belgium;  they  numbered  117  in  1834,  and  454 
in  1845.  After  that  date  came  the  great  revolutionary 
storm  of  1848,  and  Belgium  was  almost  the  one  land  in 
which  the  hunted  Jesuits  could  find  refuge.  Leopold  of 
Saxe-Coburg  was  too  prudent  a  Protestant  to  interfere 
with  them,  and  from  the  Belgian  frontier  they  maintained 
the  strenq-th  of  their  struCTo-linor  colleag^ues  in  France. 
In  Holland  they  were  treated  with  leniency  by  the 
successor  of  William  ;  and,  when  the  storm  broke  upon 
their  German  colleagues  in  1872,  they  were  able  to 
receive  the  refugees  and  maintain  houses  on  the  frontier 
for  the  invasion  of  Germany,  as  they  do  to-day. 

It  is  needless  to  show,  in  fine,  how  the  restored 
Jesuits  spread  again  over  the  foreign  missions.  After 
1830  especially,  when  their  number  had  increased,  they 
began  to  regain  their  lost  Provinces.  In  1834  six 
fathers  landed  at  Calcutta  to  restore  the  Indian  Province, 
and  when  the  Portuguese  missionaries  and  authorities 
tried  to  expel  them,  they  succeeded  in  getting  the 
protection  of  the  English  authorities.  Madaura,  the 
richest  of  their  old  fields,  was  restored  to  them  in  1837. 
Here  again  the  existing  missionaries  protested  so 
violently  that  for  many  years  the  few  Jesuits  led  a  hard 
and   almost   fruitless  existence.      In    1842    some   of  the 

^  Historians  usually  include  among  the  causes  the  enforcement  of  a 
system  of  secular  education  only  in  the  schools.  But — as  Sir  Robert  Stout 
kijidly  pointed  out  to  me — the  Catholic  prelates  in  their  letter  to  the  French 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  dated  30th  May  1806,  had  previously  "willingly " 
accepted  this  arrangement.  They  agreed  that  it  was  enough  to  teach 
religion  in  the  churches. 


THE  NEW  JESUITS  423 

Jesuit  missionaries  secured  the  charge  of  a  native  college 
in  Bengal,  but  the  prince  was  compelled  to  evict  them 
after  a  few  years.  There  was  an  angry  feeling  and 
great  outcry  against  them  in  India  well  into  the  middle 
of  the  century.  In  1854  they  received  charge  of  the 
vicariate  of  Bombay,  in  1858  of  Poonah,  and  in  1859  of 
Bengal. 

China  was  re-entered,  very  modestly,  in  1841,  and 
the  various  Republics  of  South  America  admitted  them 
whenever  the  Catholics  alternated  in  power  with  the 
Liberals.  They  entered  Argentina  in  1836,  but  were 
banished  again  in  1843  ;  they  were  permitted  to  settle 
in  Guatemala  in  1853,  and  expelled  when  the  Liberals 
came  to  power  in  1871.  But  it  would  be  little  more 
than  a  calendar  of  dates  to  record  their  appearances  and 
disappearances  in  the  South  American  States,  and  on 
the  foreign  missions  generally.  In  1845,  of  5000  Jesuits, 
518  were  missionaries:  in  1855  there  were  mo  on  the 
missions:  in  1884  they  counted  2575  on  the  missions. 
They  no  longer  presented  to  the  historian  the  interesting 
features  of  their  early  years;  Jesuits  no  longer  flaunted 
the  silk  robes  of  a  mandarin  or  the  mythological  vesture 
of  a  Saniassi,  no  vast  estates  or  commerce  sent  gold  to 
their  European  brethren,  no  troops  of  soldiers  marched 
at  their  command,  no  quaint  rites  or  rebellions  against 
bishops  engaged  the  Roman  Congregations.  They  had 
entered  the  age  of  prose. 


CHAPTER   XVI 
THE  LAST  PHASE 

If  we  attempt  to  sum  up  in  few  words  the  story  of  the 
Jesuits  during  the  first  few  decades  after  their  sup- 
pression, we  must  say  that  there  was  Httle  change  in 
their  spirit,  and  that  they  were  wholly  bent  on  returning 
to  their  former  position.  In  actual  conduct  there  is  a 
material  change.  The  industrial  and  commercial  system, 
which  had  formed  one  of  the  most  irregular  roots  of 
their  power  in  the  earlier  centuries,  has  disappeared  ; 
they  no  longer  haunt  the  courts  of  kings  as  they  had 
done  ;  they,  as  a  rule,  show  less  arrogance  to  the  non- 
Jesuit  clergy  and  the  bishops  ;  they  are  less  lax  in  their 
casuistry ;  they  shrink  from  regicide.  Much  of  this 
change  is,  however,  plainly  attributable  to  their  new 
situation.  There  is,  for  instance,  hardly  a  single  country 
where  they  enjoy  an  unbroken  prosperity  for  even  thirty 
years  during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  so 
that  we  could  hardly  look  for  large  estates  or  traffic ;  and 
their  foreign  missions  are  only  slowly  and  laboriously 
constructed.  As  to  regicide,  the  new  age  has  a  more 
humane  way  of  dealing  with  superfluous  kings.  If  they 
do  not  counsel  kings,  it  is  clearly  not  from  lack  of  desire 
to  do  so.  On  the  whole,  let  us  say  that  the  dreadful 
age,  as  they  conceive  it,  into  which  they  are  reborn  has 
improved  their  conduct  in  spite  of  themselves. 

We  have  now  to  see  how,  as  the  age  increases  in 

wickedness,  to  use  their  phrase,  the  Jesuits  continue  to 

424 


THE  LAST  PHASE  425 

improve:  how  they  retain  their  worst  features  only  in 
lands  which  they  pronounce  godly  and  just,  and  are  so 
innocent  as  to  cast  suspicion  on  the  dark  legends  about 
them  where  heresy  and  unbelief  abound.  This  last 
phase  of  Jesuit  activity  is  very  important,  yet  too  close 
to  us  for  proper  historical  study.  Enough  can  be  said, 
however,  to  show  that  what  may  be  called  the  inter- 
mediate view  of  Jesuit  degeneration  is  disputable. 
There  are  those  {i.e.  all  Jesuits  and  their  admirers)  who 
hold  that  the  Jesuits  were  never  open  to  grave  censure 
as  a  body  ;  and  there  are  those  who  maintain  that  the 
Jesuit  of  the  nineteenth  or  twentieth  century  is  as  bad 
as  the  Jesuit  of  the  seventeenth,  and  would  poison  a 
pope  or  forge  a  cheque  complacently  in  the  interest  of 
the  Society.  A  third  view  is  that  their  heavy  and 
repeated  chastisements  have  made  their  evil  features  a 
thing  of  history.  During  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  however,  we  have  seen  that  they  had  no  idea 
of  burying  their  past  ;  they  were  to  co-operate  with 
kings  in  restoring  the  old  order,  and  we  have  not  the 
least  ground  to  think  that,  had  they  restored  it,  they 
would  have  used  their  power  otherwise  than  they  did  in 
the  seventeenth  century.  It  remains  to  see  if  they 
become  wiser  in  the  next  half-century. 

We  left  them  on  the  eve  of  the  revolution  of  1848. 
Except  in  Switzerland,  where  their  obstinacy  in  asserting 
their  rights  had  been  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  a  civil 
war  and  made  their  prospects  worse  than  ever,  they  still 
dreamed  of  erasing  the  revolution  from  the  chronicle  of 
Europe  and  beginning  again  at  1750.  Hence  the 
fearful  storm  of  1848  broke  on  them  almost  unex- 
pectedly. They  had  only  recently  been  forced  to  retire 
from  France,  so  that  the  outbreak  in  that  country 
affected  them  little.  But  the  storm  passed  on  to  Austria 
and  Italy,  even  Rome,  and  drove  the  Jesuits  before  it. 


426  THE  JESUITS 

A  Jesuit  writer  observes  sadly  that  "the  first  attack  of 
the  revolutionaries  everywhere  was  on  the  Jesuits." 
Naturally  ;  there  were  no  more  vehement  opponents  in 
Europe  of  the  new  age  which  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment represented.  They  had  themselves  traced  the 
revolutionary  spirit  to  their  temporary  absence  from  the 
schools  of  Europe,  and  the  revolutionaries^  concluded 
that  the  reign  of  terror  had  had  their  support.  So  from 
Rhineland,  Austria,  Galicia,  Venice,  Turin,  Rome, 
Naples,  and  Sicily — the  only  Provinces  of  the  Society 
which  seemed  secure — the  Jesuits  were  driven  by  armed 
and  angry  crowds,  and  a  vast  colony  of  bewildered 
refugees  shuddered  in  Belgium. 

The  Emperor  of  Austria  was  forced  on  7th  May  to 
sign  their  expulsion  from  the  whole  of  his  empire,  but 
it  was  in  Italy  that  they  suffered  most.  Since  1840 
the  authorities  of  the  Society  had  received  a  succession 
of  painful  shocks.  The  Carlists  had  lost  and  the  fathers 
had  been  driven  from  Spain:  in  1845  they  had  been 
forced  to  dissolve  the  communities  in  France:  in  1847 
the  Swiss  Catholics  had  lost,  and  the  Jesuit  houses  had 
been  wrecked.  They  had  attached  themselves  every- 
where to  losing  causes.  Manning  was  in  Rome  in  the 
winter  1847-48,  and  his  diary  records  the  coming  of  the 
revolution  to  Rome,  and  flight  of  the  Jesuits.  Pius  ix. 
had  exhausted  his  Liberalism,  and  the  Romans  were 
uneasy  and  suspicious.  Then,  in  January  and  February 
1848,  news  came  that  the  revolutionaries  had  triumphed 
in  Sicily  and  Naples,  and  the  Jesuits  were  flying  north. 
By  March  the  Jesuits  at  Rome  were  ready  to  fly  at  a 
moment's  notice,  as  Manning  found  when  he  visited 
them.     On  29th  March  they  were  expelled  ;  and  in  the 

*  I  use  the  phrase  of  historians,  but  may  observe  that  this  was,  in  the 
main,  a  middle-class  movement  to  secure  liberty  of  opinion  and  other 
elementary  political  rights. 


THE  LAST  PHASE  427 

same  month  the  Viennese  conquered  their  Emperor,  the 
Venetians  rebelled  and  drove  out  the  Jesuits,  and  the 
Piedmontese  won  a  Liberal  Constitution  from  Charles 
Albert.  Manning  speculates  on  the  causes  of  the 
intense  hostility  to  the  Jesuits,  and  traces  it  to  their 
alliance  with  ultramontanism  and  political  reaction. 

As  the  historian  tells,  the  revolution  of  1848  had  in 
most  countries  only  a  temporary  triumph,  and  in  the 
course  of  1849  and  1S50  the  Jesuits  returned  to  their 
provinces.  In  very  many  places  they  returned  to  find 
their  comfortable  home  a  heap  of  ruins,  but  the  storm 
had  had  one  consoling  effect.  It  had  proved  that  the 
Jesuits  were  the  chief  enemies  of  Liberalism,  and  to  the 
Jesuits  must  be  entrusted  the  task  of  extinguishing  such 
sparks  as  remained  of  the  revolutionary  fire.  Pius  ix. 
had  been  driven  to  Gaeta,  while  the  Romans  set  up 
their  short-lived  Triumvirate  and  declared  papal  rule 
at  an  end.  He  returned  to  Rome  in  the  spring  of  1850, 
when  French  troops  had  cleared  out  his  opponents,  and 
from  that  moment  he  became  the  closest  ally  of  the 
Jesuits.  His  first  act  was  to  cannonise  several  members 
of  the  Society.  He  took  a  Jesuit  confessor,  and,  with 
the  aid  of  Cardinal  Antonelll  and  the  Society,  set  up 
the  selfish  and  repressive  system  which  the  English 
ambassador  described  as  "  the  opprobrium  of  Europe." 

At  last,  it  seemed,  the  spectre  of  revolution  was 
definitively  laid,  and  a  prospect  of  real  restoration  lay 
before  the  Society.  At  Rome  the  Jesuits  had  enormous 
power.  Their  influence  is  seen  in  the  declaration  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception  in  1854  and  the  appalling 
Encyclical  against  modern  culture  and  aspirations  of 
1864.  To  them  in  1866  the  Pope  entrusted  his  chief 
organ,  the  Civilta  Cattolica,  and  they  had  a  large  part 
in  agitating  for,  and  ultimately  passing,  the  declaration 
that    the    Pope   is    infallible    in   1870.     During  all   this 


428  THE  JESUITS 

period  they  controlled  Catholic  culture,  if  not  the 
Papacy.  Their  power  was  at  the  same  time  restored 
in  Sicily,  Naples,  and  Venice,  so  that  Italy  (except 
Piedmont)  was  covered  with  their  colleges  and  residences. 
In  Austria  the  Emperor,  embittered  by  his  hour  of 
humiliation,  now  opened  the  whole  of  his  dominions  to 
them,  and  they  collected  fathers  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  to  come  and  restore  the  prosperity  of  the  Austrian 
Province.  In  Belgium  they  prospered  luxuriantly  ; 
and  they  made  quiet  and  stealthy  progress  in  Holland, 
Bavaria,  Switzerland,  Saxony,  and  Prussia,  where  they 
were  not  authorised.  In  France  Napoleon  iii.  cancelled 
the  decrees  against  them,  and  cherished  them  as  one 
of  the  supports  of  his  throne.  In  England  they  found 
a  friend  in  Wiseman  and  made  rapid  progress  ;  in  the 
United  States  they  were  growing  with  the  phenomenal 
growth  of  the  population.  The  age  of  trouble  was  over. 
The  sage  old  fathers  at  the  Gesu  and  the  Roman 
College  saw  chaos  returning  to  order. 

In  1853,  at  the  beginning  of  this  happier  turn  of 
their  fortunes,  Roothaan  died,  and  Beckx,  the  son  of  a 
Belgian  shoemaker,  was  elected  General.  The  one 
cloud  on  the  horizon  was  Piedmont,  where  the  earlier 
affection  for  the  Jesuits  had  died,  but  it  had  been  proved, 
apparently,  that  France  and  Austria  would  check  the 
ambition  of  that  State.  But  France  was  drawn  to 
Sardinia,  and  in  1859  Victor  Emmanuel  began  to  ex- 
tend his  rule  over  Italy.  From  that  time  until  1870 
the  Society  heard  of  nothing  but  disaster.  In  i860 
Victor  Emmanuel  annexed  Tuscany,  Emilia,  and 
Romagna,  and  the  Jesuits  were  driven  from  their  homes 
into  the  Papal  States.  In  the  same  year  Garibaldi 
landed  in  Sicily,  put  an  end  to  the  brutal  rule  of  the 
Catholic  King,  and  ejected  the  300  Jesuits  from  their 
palatial   college  at   Palermo  and   other   residences.      In 


THE  LAST  PHASE  429 

the  autumn  he  entered  Naples,  and  swept  further 
hundreds  of  the  Jesuits  before  him.  We  learn  from  a 
letter  of  protest  which  Father  Beckx  addressed  to 
Victor  Emmanuel,  that  in  the  two  years  the  Society- 
had  lost  3  institutions  in  Lombardy,  6  in  Modena, 
II  in  the  Papal  States,  19  in  Naples,  and  15  in 
Sicily.  Of  308  Jesuits  in  their  most  prosperous 
Province  of  Sicily  only  8  aged  and  ailing  fathers 
were  allowed  to  remain  on  the  island.  Of  5500 
members  of  the  Society  no  less  than  1500  were  home- 
less, and  were  not  even  allowed  to  find  shelter  in 
Catholic  houses  in  their  native  Provinces.  In  1866 
the  Austrians  were  ejected  from  Venice,  and  further 
scores  of  Jesuits  were  driven  from  their  homes.  In 
1868,  it  may  be  added,  the  Jesuits  were  again  banished 
from  Spain,  to  which  they  had  returned  under  Isabella  11. 

There  was  a  great  concentration  of  Jesuits  in  Rome 
and  the  remaining  Papal  States,  and  desperate  efforts 
were  made  to  secure  that  at  least  this  remnant  of  earthly 
principality  should  remain  loyal  to  the  Pope.  To  the 
great  joy  of  the  Jesuits  an  CEcumenical  Council  gathered 
at  the  Vatican,  and  the  design  of  declaring  the  Pope 
personally  infallible  in  matters  of  faith  or  morals  was 
eagerly  pressed.  In  the  long  and  heated  conflict  of 
affirming  bishops  and  denying  bishops,  and  bishops  who 
thought  a  declaration  inexpedient,  the  Jesuits  were  very 
active,  scorning  the  idea  that  it  could  be  imprudent  to 
enhance  the  power  of  the  Pope.  Then  came  the  Franco- 
German  War,  the  withdrawal  of  the  one  Catholic  force 
which  could  save  Rome  from  Victor  Emmanuel,  and  the 
clouds  gathered  more  thickly  than  ever.  The  Jesuits 
had  declared  their  opinion  of  the  "usurper"  too  freely 
to  have  any  illusion  as  to  the  issue. 

When  the  Piedmontese  troops  entered  by  the  breach 
at  the  Porta  Pia  on  20th  September,  the  Jesuits  knew 


430  THE  JESUITS 

that  they  were  doomed.  A  detachment  of  soldiers  at 
once  proceeded  to  the  house  attached  to  the  Gesu  and 
took  up  quarters  there.  Whatever  the  reason  was,  the 
new  Italian  Government  proceeded  very  slowly  in  the 
work  of  expelling  the  Jesuits.  For  some  weeks  soldiers 
and  fathers  lived  together  at  the  Gesu — the  fathers  after- 
wards said  that  the  soldiers  chose  the  General's  room  for 
practising  the  drum  and  trumpet — and  the  various  resi- 
dences were  confiscated  "in  the  public  interest"  at  wide 
intervals.  In  October  the  novitiate  at  St.  Andreas,  with 
its  large  estates^  was  taken  and  the  novices  forced  to 
enlist.  In  January  1772  one  of  their  smaller  churches 
was  handed  over  to  the  secular  clergy  ;  in  January  1873 
a  second  church  and  the  Roman  College  (which  was 
used  by  the  Ministry  of  War)  were  annexed. 

At  last,  in  June  1873,  a  law  was  published  enacting 
that  the  monks  and  religious  of  all  orders  must  quit  Italy. 
One  house  was  to  be  reserved  at  Rome  for  each  order, 
so  that  they  might  communicate  with  the  Vatican,  but  this 
privilege  was  refused  to  the  Jesuits.  They  were  hated 
by  the  great  majority  of  the  educated  Italians,  who  re- 
called with  anger  their  support  of  the  bloody  reigns  of 
Ferdinand  of  Naples,  Ferdinand  vii.  of  Spain,  Miguel 
of  Portugal,  and  Gregory  xvi.  and  Pius  ix.  They  had 
sided  with  reaction  and  lost.  There  was  no  general 
sympathy  when,  in  October,  Father  Beckx,  now  a 
feeble  old  man  of  seventy-eight,  went  sorrowfully  to  his 
exile  in  Florence,  and  the  remaining  Italian  Jesuits  were 
pensioned  and  scattered.  The  novitiate  at  Sant  Andreas 
was  rented  by  the  American  Seminary  (and  Father 
Beckx  was  allowed  to  die  there  some  years  later).  The 
Gesu  was  entrusted  to  other  priests,  and  the  sacred 
rooms  of  Ignatius  and  the  other  saints  of  the  Society  were 
respectfully  preserved.  The  Roman  College  became 
a  State    school :    I    remember   seeing  a   vast    Congress 


THE  LAST  PHASE  431 

of  Freethinkers  hold  their  fiery  meetings  in  its  dark 
chambers  and  airy  quadrangle  thirty  years  afterwards, 
at  the  invitation  of  the  civic  authorities  of  Rome. 

It  was  just  one  hundred  years  since  the  Roman 
Jesuits  had  been  scattered  by  Clement  xiv.  But  the 
catastrophe  in  Italy  was  not  the  only  affliction  to  mark 
that  dark  centenary.  They  had  in  the  previous  year, 
when  they  were  awaiting  the  sentence  of  Victor 
Emmanuel,  heard  that  their  fathers  were  expelled 
from  the  new  German  Empire.  For  some  years  they 
had  made  quiet,  but  considerable,  progress  in  Prussia, 
Bavaria,  and  Saxony,  as  well  as  Austria.  They  had 
opened  a  number  of  colleges  at  Cologne  and  in  the 
Rhine  Province,  always  a  rich  field  for  their  work,  and 
had  institutions  at  Posen,  MiAnster,  Metz,  Mayence, 
Bonn,  Strassburg,  Essen,  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Marienthal, 
Ratisbon,  and  many  other  places.  From  the  Rhine 
Province  and  Bavaria  and  Baden  they  sent  so  many 
recruits  to  the  German  College  at  Rome,  who  would 
return  to  work  in  Germany  and  further  the  influence  of 
the  Jesuits  in  seminaries  and  bishoprics  and  universities, 
that  Frederick  William  in.  was  compelled  to  forbid  any 
of  his  subjects  to  go  to  the  German  College  or  any  other 
Jesuit  institution.  Frederick  William  iv.  genially  over- 
looked their  progress,  and  they  spread  over  the  States 
which  were  presently  to  form  the  German  Empire. 

But  the  birth  of  the  German  Empire  coincided  with 
the  declaration  of  papal  infallibility,  and  a  strong  agita- 
tion for  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  arose.  The  pro- 
longed check  on  Jesuit  activity  in  Germany  had  permitted 
the  growth  of  a  more  virile  and  honest  culture  among 
the  secular  clergy,  and  many  of  the  best  Catholic 
scholars  were  amazed  at  the  papal  claim.  Politicians 
and  Protestants  generally  were  concerned  about  this 
victory  of  ultramontanism,  and  attributed    it  largely  to 


432  THE  JESUITS 

the  intrigues  of  the  Jesuits.  Even  before  1870  the 
Catholic  statesmen  of  Bavaria  were  in  conflict  with  the 
Church  over  its  extreme  pretensions.  When,  in  1870, 
two  more  Catholic  Provinces  were  added  to  Germany, 
bringing  its  Catholic  population  up  to  fifteen  millions, 
Bismarck  watched  attentively  every  step  in  the  growth 
of  ultramontanism.  The  dissenters  at  the  Vatican 
Council  had  very  serious  ground  indeed  for  their  plea  of 
inexpediency,  as  far  as  Germany  was  concerned.  Even 
Austria  threatened  to  break  its  Concordat  with  the 
Papacy  when  the  news  of  the  declaration  of  infallibility 
arrived.  Over  Protestant  Germany  a  feeling  of  intense 
hostility  spread,  and  the  Old  Catholics  joined  in  the 
outcry. 

Petitions  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  began  to 
reach  the  Reichstag,  and  the  Government  proceeded  to 
act.  A  measure  was  debated  in  the  Reichstag  in  June 
1872,  and  on  the  4th  of  July  it  was  signed  and 
promulgated.  Six  months  were  allowed  for  the  settle- 
ment of  their  affairs,  and  in  the  course  of  that  time  the 
whole  of  their  communities  were  dissolved.  As  com- 
munities they  retired  upon  Switzerland,  Austria, 
Holland,  and  Belgium,  but  the  law  permitted  them  to 
enter  the  Empire  as  individual  citizens,  and  Bismarck 
knew  that  it  availed  little  to  expel  Jesuits  with  a  fork. 
Dr.  Falk,  a  strenuous  Liberal,  was  made  Minister  of 
Public  Instruction,  and  he  framed  a  series  of  measures 
(the  "  May  Laws  ")  for  the  complete  control  of  education 
by  the  State  and  for  determining  the  qualifications  of 
teachers  in  such  a  way  that  no  disguised  Jesuit  could 
return  to  his  desk.  The  control  of  schools  had  hitherto 
been  left  generally  to  the  bishops,  on  whose  indulgence 
or  zeal,  as  far  as  the  Catholic  schools  were  concerned, 
the  Jesuits  could  generally  rely. 

A  stormy  controversy  ended  in  the  passing  of  the 


THE  LAST  PHASE  433 

Laws,  and  Germany  entered  upon  that  long  and  bitter 
struggle  of  the  Catholics  against  the  Government  which 
is  known  as  the  Kultzirkampf.  To  this  day  the  Jesuits 
have  been  unable,  in  spite  of  the  most  industrious 
intrigue,  to  secure  readmission  into  the  German 
Empire.  They  still  hover  about  the  frontiers,  in 
Holland,  Austria,  and  Belgium,  and  maintain  large 
colleges  in  which  hundreds  of  the  sons  of  the  wealthier 
Catholics  are  educated  in  orthodox  principles.  Individ- 
ually, they  live  frequently  in  Berlin  and  control  the 
incessant  demand  of  the  Centre  Party  for  their  re- 
habilitation. "Exile"  has  no  effect  on  their  growth 
and  prosperity,  for  the  755  expelled  Jesuits  of  1872 
now  number  1186.  It  is  not  impossible  that  they  will 
secure  return  by  some  such  bargain  as  that  which 
contributed  to  the  ending  of  the  Kulturkaiiipf. 
Bismarck  saw  a  "red  terror"  growing  more  rapidly 
and  threateningly  than  the  "  black  terror,"  and  he 
made  peace  with  the  Catholic  clergy  and  Rome  on  the 
understanding  that  they  would  combat  Socialism  in 
Germany.  Socialism  continues  to  grow,  and  it  would 
not  be  surprising  if  the  Emperor  at  length  enlists  the 
sons  of  Ignatius  in  his  desperate  struggle  against  it. 
If  he  does,  the  Society  will  find  a  luxuriant  field  for 
growth  among  the  22,000,000  Catholics  of  the  Empire, 
until  the  last  deadly  struggle  with  Social  Democracy 
sets  in. 

For  the  inner  spirit  and  character  of  the  modern 
German  Jesuits  I  must  refer  the  reader  to  Count  von 
Hoensbroech's  invaluable  Fourtee^i  Years  a  Jesuit 
(2  vols.,  Engl,  transl.,  191 1).  The  whole  story  from 
beginning  to  end  is  a  sober  but  pitiful  indictment  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  shows  how  little  change  there  is  below 
their  accommodating  expressions.  We  find  the  Jesuits 
hovering  about  the  houses  of  the  wealthy,  using  their 
28 


434  THE  JESUITS 

influence    with    the   women,    extorting    money    by    the 
most    questionable     means,     practising     and     teaching 
mental    reservation    at    every    turn,    and   intriguing    for 
political  power  through  the  Catholic  laity,  as  they  had 
done  through  three  centuries.     When  Father  Anderledy 
(a  future  General  of  the  Society)  was  convicted,  in  the 
'forties,  of  maintaining  studies  in  the  Cologne  residence, 
contrary  to  Prussian  law,  he    flady  denied  the  charge, 
making  the  mental  reservation   that  from   that  moment 
the  school  should  cease  to  exist.     The  Jesuit  historian 
who  records  the  fact  says:   "What  presence  of  mind!" 
When    Hoensbroech,   intending    to    enter   the    German 
service,  asked  the  learned  Jesuit  Franzelin  whether  he 
might  take  an  oath    to    observe    the  laws  (which  then 
included  the  May   Laws),   he  was   told   that  he  might, 
with  the  mental    reserve    that   he    did   not  respect  any 
laws  denounced  by  the  Church.      Numbers  of  instances 
of  deliberate  lying  (with   mental  reserve)  are  given,  and 
the  work  exhibits  the   character,  the    training,  and  the 
educational    activity    of    the    Jesuits    in    an    extremely 
unattractive    light.      It    is    an    indispensable    document 
for  the  study  of  modern  Jesuit  character. 

The  German  Jesuits  were,  as  I  said,  expelled  in 
1872;  the  Italian  Jesuits  followed  in  1873.  At  that 
time  the  Jesuits  of  France  were  enjoying  the  reaction 
of  public  opinion  which  followed  the  attempts  of  the 
Communists.  Under  Napoleon  iii.  they  had  quickly 
recovered,  and  as  early  as  1855  there  had  once  more 
been  appeals  for  their  expulsion.  They  returned  to 
their  schools  and  colleges  after  the  disturbances  of 
187 1,  and  the  Conservative  Government  permitted  them 
to  prosper.  A  reaction  set  in  in  the  later  'seventies, 
when  Gambetta  vigorously  led  the  anti-clerical  forces 
and  began  to  denounce  the  Society.  The  Catholics 
had   almost   succeeded   in    overthrowing   the    Republic 


THE  LAST  PHASE  435 

and  enthroning  the  Due  de  Chambord.  When  (in  1877) 
they  went  on  to  demand  the  employment  of  French 
troops  for  the  re-estabhshment  of  the  Pope  in  his 
temporal  power,  they  lost  the  cause  of  their  Church. 
From  that  year  Catholicism  has  decreased  in  France, 
shrinking  from  30,000,000  to  about  5,000,000  followers 
in  thirty  years. 

Within  two  years  there  was  an  enormous  growth 
of  the  anti-clerical  feeling,  especially  against  the  Jesuits. 
They,  and  the  great  majority  of  the  religious  orders,  had 
no  legal  right  to  existence  in  France.  Only  three  or 
four  Congregations,  of  a  philanthropic  character,  were 
authorised  by  French  law.  Yet  these  useful  bodies  made 
no  progress,  while  the  unauthorised  Congregations  held 
property  of  the  value  of  400,000,000  francs.  Jules  Ferry 
now  became  Minister  of  Education,  and  framed  a  law  to 
prevent  any  member  of  an  unauthorised  Society  from 
teaching.  When  the  Catholic  Senate  rejected  it,  the 
unauthorised  Congregations  were  dissolved  by  decree 
(1880).  Once  more  the  Jesuits  were  banished  from 
France,  and  2904  members  of  the  Society  were  added 
to  the  number  of  exiles.  In  1880  more  than  half  the 
Jesuits — or  7400  Jesuits — were  excluded  from  their 
respective   countries. 

As  France  was  still  overwhelmingly  Catholic,  the 
successive  Governments  were  unable  to  enforce  the  law, 
and  the  Jesuits  quietly  returned  to  their  work.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  during  the  next  twenty  years,  until 
France  had  become  predominantly  non-Catholic  and 
disposed  to  insist  on  their  exclusion,  the  2900  Jesuits 
actually  increased  their  number ;  the  property  of  the  un- 
authorised Congregations  rose  in  value  from  400,000,000 
to  1,000,000,000  francs;  the  higher  education  was  con- 
trolled to  a  great  extent  by  the  Jesuits,  whose  pupils 
passed    largely  into  the  army  and  navy.      It  is   hardly 


436  THE  JESUITS 

necessary  to  recall  the  successive  blunders  by  which  the 
Jesuits  (and  other  religious)  brought  on  themselves  the 
sentence   of  expulsion    in    1901.      In    1886    Boulanger 
became  Minister  of  War  and  popular  idol.      His  Radical 
friends  soon  distrusted   him,  and  the    Monarchists  and 
Catholics  fanned  the  popular  agitation  to  have  him  made 
Dictator.      In  this  case  we  have  positive  and  sufficient 
information  of  the  complicity  of  the  Jesuits.     Count  von 
Hoensbroech,  then  a  young  Jesuit,  heard  from  the  lips 
of  Father  du  Lac,  the  most  prominent  of   the   French 
Jesuits,  that  he  had  collected  large  sums  of  money  for  the 
"  Deliverer  of  France  "  and  the  overthrow  of  the  "  dirty 
and  impious  Republic." '    We  can  hardly  doubt  that  they 
had  been  equally  zealous  for  the  Due  de  Chambord,  and 
were  later  as  zealous  for  the  cause  of  the  Due  d'Orleans. 
Boulanger  fled,   to  escape  arrest,  in   1889,  and  the 
Republicans  added  to  the  reckoning  against  the  Jesuits. 
In  1897-99  occurred  the  famous  agitation  for  the  retrial 
of  Dreyfus,  and  once  more  the  Jesuits  ranged  themselves 
on  the  losing  side  of  tyranny  and  prejudice.     By  the  end 
of  the  century  France  had  become  overwhelmingly  non- 
Catholic,  and  was  not  disposed  to  tolerate  further  the 
intrigues  and  wealth  of  bodies  which  had  no  legal  exist- 
ence'^in  the  country.     The  Jesuits,  in  particular,  were  a 
menace  to  the  Republic.     The  new  century  opened  there- 
fore with  an  anti-clerical  campaign  which  is  still  fresh  in 
our  memories.     Waldeck-Rousseau  passed  his  Associa- 
tions' Bill  in  1901,  and  the  Jesuits  now  were  once  more 
expelled.     Combes  and  Rouvier  completed  the  work  in 
subsequent  years.     There  is,  however,  no  very  drastic 
action  taken  against  invading  religious,  and  the  Jesuits 
frequent    Paris    as    they    do    Berlin.      The    number   of 
members  of  the  French   Provinces  of  the  Society  has 
risen  to  307 1  (many  of  whom  are  on  the  foreign  missions), 

1  Fourteen  Vca/s,  il.  164. 


THE  LAST  PHASE  437 

and  from  comfortable  homes  in  England  (where  we 
have  226)  and  other  countries,  with  their  funds  safely 
invested,  they  await  the  day  of  recall.  But  the  general 
collapse  of  the  Church  in  France  makes  it  certain  that 
they  will  never  be  readmitted. 

Apart  from  the  Latin-American  Republics,  in  con- 
nection with  which  it  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate  the 
various  expulsions  and  recalls  of  the  Jesuits,  and  Portugal 
the  Society  has  made  great  progress  in  other  countries. 
Of  Portugal  little  need  be  said ;  the  situation  is  similar 
to  that  in  France.  The  Jesuits  had  no  authorised 
existence  in  the  country,  and,  when  Portugal  was  at 
length  enabled  to  assert  its  will  (after  the  revolution  of 
1 9 10),  it  sharply  dismissed  them.  Here  again  the 
country  is  predominantly  non-Catholic,  if  we  confine 
our  attention  to  voters,  and  the  Jesuits  are  never  likely 
to  return. 

Spain  has  become  the  refuge,  and  almost  the  last 
hope  in  the  Latin  world,  of  the  expatriated  Jesuits.  In 
the  corrupt  and  worthless  reign  of  Isabella  11.  they  had 
been  suffered  to  return  to  their  posts  and  prosper. 
Properly  speaking,  they  have  had  no  legal  right  to  exist 
in  Spain  since  they  were  abolished  by  Christina  in  1835. 
The  Concordat  of  1852  stipulates  for  the  admission  of 
the  Oratorians  and  Vincentians  and  "  one  other  "  Congre- 
gation ;  but  casuistic  skill  has  interpreted  this  to  mean 
"one  for  each  diocese,"  and  all  have  been  admitted. 
The  abominable  rule  of  their  patroness  Isabella  ended 
in  revolution  in  1868  ;  the  frivolous  Queen  was  deposed, 
and  the  Jesuits  shared  the  fate  of  her  other  strange 
favourites.  With  the  accession  of  Alfonso  xii.,  however, 
they  returned  to  Spain,  and  obtained  the  wealth  and 
power  which  they  enjoy  to-day. 

The  secrecy  of  the  Society  emboldens  its  apologists 
to  make  the  most  audacious  denials  of  these  constant 


438  THE  JESUITS 

charges  of  wealth,  power,  and  intrigue,  but  it  constantly 
happens  that  some  confiscated  document  or  disaffected 
admirer  betrays  them.     Such  an  instance  may  be  quoted 
in  connection  with  the  Spanish  Jesuits.    In  1896  a  devout 
CathoHc,  a  former  pupil  and  employee  of  the  Jesuits, 
Senor  Ceballos  y  Cruzada,  quarrelled  with  and  turned 
against  them.      In  the  little  work  in  which  he  expounds 
his  grievances  i^El  Imperio  del  Jesuitismo)  he  tells  us 
some  interesting  facts  about  their  wealth  and   activity. 
There  is  in  Spain  a  vast  Catholic  Society  known  as  the 
Association   of  Fathers  of  Families,  which   is  quite   as 
much  concerned  with  sound  politics    as   sound    morals. 
Senor  Ceballos  shows  how  the  Jesuits  secretly  use  and 
direct  it  for  their  political  aims,  and  for  thwarting  rival 
ecclesiastical  bodies.     As  to  their  wealth,  he  says  that 
they  have  1 1  colleges  worth  from  1,000,000  to  12,000,000 
reales   each,    while    their    chief   house    at     Loyola   has 
property  of  incalculable  value.     At  his  own  college,  at 
Deusto,  there  were  about  300  pupils  paying  \  ^00  pesetas 
a  year  each  ;  in  none  of  them  is  education  gratuitous. 
The  schooling  is  very  poor  and  antiquated,  and  few  of 
their  scholars  later  rise  to  any  distinction.      It  is  curious 
to    know    that    these    wealthy    Jesuit    institutions   have 
the  British  flag  ready  to  be  hoisted  in  case  of  revolution 
(which  they  yearly  expect). 

There  is,  however,  little  need  for  proof  of  the  wealth 
and  political  influence  of  the  Jesuits  in  Spain.  In  the 
struggle  which  is  proceeding  between  the  reformers,  of 
all  parties,  and  the  supporters  of  the  deeply  corrupt 
political  system,  the  Jesuits  use  their  whole  strength  as 
educators,  and  intrigue  far  beyond  their  schools,  in  the 
interest  of  corruption ;  and,  true  to  their  maxim  of 
educating  and  capturing  the  sons  of  the  wealthier 
classes,  they  have  permitted  the  mass  of  the  people  to 
remain  at  an  appalling  level  of   illiteracy.     The   great 


THE  LAST  PHASE  439 

majority  of  the  men  of  Spain,  in  the  large  towns,  hate 
them  intensely,  and  await  with  impatience  the  day  when, 
like  their  Portuguese  neighbours,  they  will  expel  their 
insidious  enemies.      A  few  years   ago  a  drama  entided 
Paternidad  was  put  upon  the  stage  of  one  of  the  chief 
theatres  at   Barcelona,    and    received    with    the    wildest 
enthusiasm.      It    was    written    by    a    Catholic    priest, 
Segismondo    Pey-Ordeix,    and    represented  the   Jesuits 
of  modern  Spain  as  practising  the  most  corrupt  devices 
known    in    the    history    of    the    Society.     The    sternly 
critical  works  of  the  great  Spanish  writer,  Perez  Galdos, 
are  just  as  enthusiastically  received   at  Madrid  and  in 
all    the    cities.     Spaniards  watch   with    indignation    the 
concentration  of  exiled  Jesuits    on  their  territory.     To 
the    exiled    French    communities    of   1880   were    added 
the    147  Jesuits  of  Cuba  and  the  Philippines  in   1898, 
and  these  are  now  reinforced  by  the  Portuguese.     They 
now   number  3859.      In    1901,    1906,   and   recently,  the 
Liberals    have   attempted    or    threatened   to    deal    with 
them ;    but  there  is  too    much   collusion   in  the    Cortes 
between  the  opposing  parties,  and  the  Jesuits  have  too 
strong  an  influence  at  the  Palace  :  I  am  informed  that 
the   present    Queen    has    surrendered    entirely    to    the  |  ^ 
pressure  of  the  Queen-mother  and  the  Jesuits.      Unless 
the  King  has  the  courage  to  lighten  the  labouring  vessel 
of  royalty  by  sacrificing  the  Jesuits,  which  would  give      | 
him  immense   popularity,   Spain  will,  within  ten  years, 
follow  the  example  of  Portugal. 

Several  of  the  South  American  Republics,  and 
Mexico,  have  already  reached  a  state  of  permanent 
triumph  of  the  Liberal  elements,  and  expelled  the 
Jesuits  for  ever.  As  this  work  proceeds  with  the 
growth  of  education,  it  is  natural  to  presume  that  they 
will  all  in  time  exclude  the  Jesuits.  Italy  also  will 
return  to  its  strict  law,  when  the  Government  discovers 


440  THE  JESUITS 

that  the  shrinking  influence  of  the  Papacy  is  no  longer 
a  valuable  ally  against  advanced  schools.  At 
present  the  law  is  not  enforced,  and  there  are  large 
numbers  of  Jesuits  in  the  country  ;  the  Italian  Province 
numbers  more  than  a  thousand  members.  At  Rome 
they  control  the  Gregorian  University,  the  German  and 
Latin-American  Colleges,  the  Biblical  Institute,  and 
other  papal  establishments.  Restrained  in  some 
measure  by  Leo  xiii.,  they  have  recovered  all  their 
influence  at  the  Vatican  under  the  present  mediaeval 
Pontiff,  and  they  are  amongst  the  most  ardent 
supporters  of  the  reactionary  policy  with  which  he  is 
paralysing  higher  culture  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  The 
higher  secular  clergy  are  little  less  anxious  than  the 
Socialists  and  Freemasons  to  see  them  suppressed. 
The  same  forces  are  at  work  against  them  in  Belmum, 
where  they  number  1200  (including  foreign  missionaries), 
and  Austria.  A  coalition  of  Liberals  and  Socialists  in 
Belgium  would  at  any  time  put  an  end  to  the  Catholic 
power,  as  the  anti-clerical  voters  are  in  the  majority,  and 
the  Jesuits  would  not  lonor  survive  the  change. 

Yet  one  of  the  most  singular  features  of  the  whole 
singular  story  of  the  Jesuits  is  that  they  have  increased 
enormously  during  this  half-century  of  afilictions.  The 
growth  of  the  Society  during  the  last  hundred  years  is 
seen  in  the  followino-  table:  — 


1838  .  3,067  members. 

1844  .  4,133 

1853  .  5,209 

1861  .  7,144 


1884     .     11,840  members. 
1906     .     15,661         „ 
1912     .     16,5451       „ 


Of    the    present    members,    3531    are   on    the    foreign 
missions  ;  and  the  reopening  of  these  fields,  under  less 

1  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  always  that  "  members  "  does  not  necessarily 
mean  priests.  Rather  less  than  half  are  priests  ;  the  remainder  are 
scholastics  or  lay  coadjutors. 


THE  LAST  PHASE  441 

adventurous  conditions,  accounts  for  much  of  the  growth 
of  the  Society,  The  advance  of  the  United  States  and 
the  British  Colonies,  with  their  large  percentage  of  Irish 
and  Italian  immigrants,  accounts  for  a  good  deal  of 
the  remainder.  The  Jesuits  of  the  United  States  now 
number  2300;  and  there  are  2)7 Z  i^i  Canada  and  100  in 
Australasia,  It  is  most  probable  that  the  future  of  . 
the  Jesuits  lies  in  the  Protestant  countries.  Probably 
the  Jesuits  will,  in  twenty  years'  time,  be  excluded  from 
every  "Catholic"  kingdom,  yet  number  more  than 
20,000. 

Their  progess  and  activity  in  England  may  be  more 
closely  described  in  illustration  of  this  tendency.  We 
saw  how  the  survivors  of  the  old  English  mission  joined 
with  the  Fathers  of  the  Faith  in  18 14  and  18 15  to  re- 
establish the  Society,  They  then  numbered  j^^  ^"<i 
had  several  chapels,  besides  the  estate  and  house  at 
Stonyhurst.  They  advanced  with  the  general  body  of 
the  Roman  Catholics,  especially  when  the  stronger 
current  of  immigration  from  Ireland  began  in  the  forties. 
The  secular  clergy  were  still  very  much  opposed  to  them, 
however,  and  Dr.  Griffiths,  the  Vicar  Apostolic  of  the 
London  district,  refused  to  allow  them  to  set  up  a  com- 
munity in  the  metropolis.  After  years  of  pressure  at 
Rome  they  secured  the  interest  of  Dr.  (later  Cardinal) 
Wiseman,  and  were  admitted  to  settle  in  Farm  St.,  among 
the  wealthiest  Catholics.  When  Wiseman  succeeded 
Griffiths  in  1847  (and  the  hierarchy  was  established  in 
1850)  they  were  cordially  patronised  and  made  greater 
progress.  They  then  numbered  554.  With  the  acces- 
sion of  Manning  the  patronage  ceased  and  their  work 
was  restricted.  They  were  eager  to  found  schools  for 
middle-class  boys ;  but  Manning  sternly  refused,  in 
defiance  of  the  favour  of  Pius  ix.,  and  they  were  com- 
pelled to  establish  their  schools  at  such  places  as  Beau- 

^ 


442  THE  JESUITS 

mont  and  Wimbledon,  outside  his  jurisdiction.  When 
they  pressed  for  a  school  of  higher  studies,  a  kind  of 
Catholic  university,  Manning  hastily  founded  his  ill- 
fated  school  at  Kensington  and  refused  their  co-opera- 
tion, with  the  natural  result  that  the  weathier  Catholics, 
under  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  would  not  support 
it.  Bishop  Vaughan  of  Salford  was  not  much  more 
indulorent  to  them. 

The  secret  of  Manning's  opposition  is  said  by  his 
biographer  to  have  been  his  wish  to  raise  the  dignity  of 
the  secular  priesthood,  which  Catholics  are  too  apt  to 
think  lower  than  the  monastic  state.  This  was,  how- 
ever, not  merely  a  mystic  theory  on  the  part  of  the 
Cardinal.  He  despised  the  comparative  indolence  and 
petty  hypocrisies  of  the  religious  orders  generally,  and 
had  a  particular  dislike  of  the  intrigue,  the  secrecy,  the 
insubordination,  and  the  pursuit  of  wealthy  people,  of 
the  Jesuits.^  Manning  refused  sacerdotal  faculties  to 
his  nephew.  Father  Anderdon,  and  forced  the  Jesuits  to 
surrender  a  site  in  West  London  for  which  they  had 
paid  more  than  ^30,000.  Cardinal  Vaughan,  however, 
relaxed  his  coercive  policy  when  he  was  transferred  to 
Westminster. 

The  English  Province  has  now  (19 12)  729  members, 
and  about  fifty  churches ;  though  the  Catholic  Directory 
gives  only  285  English  Jesuit  priests,  and  226  French 
refugees,  in  this  country.  The  feeling  against  them 
amongst  the  secular  clergy  and  the  other  religious  Con- 
gregations is  almost  as  strong  as  ever.  Their  obvious 
preference  for  the  wealthier  quarters  of  cities  is  sneer- 

^  I  am  speaking  here  on  what  I  heard,  in  clerical  days,  from  men  who 
were  intimate  with  Manning.  Purcell's  Life  is  misleading.  The  author 
intended  to  be  candid,  but  the  Jesuits  and  others  made  such  threats,  when  it 
became  known  what  disclosures  the  book  would  contain,  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  omit  much.  The  suppression  of  truth  has  greatly  injured  its 
historical  value. 


THE  LAST  PHASE  443 

ingly  discussed  in  clerical  circles,  and  it  is  said  that  they 
intrigue  incessantly  to  draw  the  more  comfortable 
Catholics  from  other  parishes.  The  poverty  of  their 
literary  and  scholastic  output, — mainly,  a  number  of 
slight  and  superficial  controversial  works,  more  intent 
on  making  small  points  than  on  substantial  and  accurate 
erudition, — and  their  remarkable  failure  to  produce  men 
of  distinction,  are  regarded  as  a  grave  reflection  on  their 
body,  in  view  of  their  wealth,  numbers,  and  leisure.  It 
is  not,  however,  believed  that  they  indulge  any  other 
intrigue  than  an  amiable  zeal  among  the  Catholic  laity 
to  add  to  their  own  comfort  and  prestige.^ 

Returning,  in  conclusion,  to  the  question  at  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter,  we  find  it  impossible  to  give 
a  general  answer  and  embrace  all  the  existing  Jesuits 
in  a  formula.  The  Jesuits  of  Spain,  with  their  political 
machinations,  their  sordid  legacy-hunting,  and  their 
eagerness  to  support  the  Spanish  Government  in  the 
judicial  murder  of  their  enemies,  are  a  very  different 
body  from  the  Jesuits  of  England  or  Germany  or  the 
United  States.  The  Jesuits  of  Cuba  and  the  Philippines 
were,  until  1898,  little  different  from  the  more  parasitical 
Jesuit  missionaries  of  the  seventeenth  or  eighteenth 
century.  The  modern  age  has  affected  the  Jesuits  much 
as  some  ancient  revolution  in  the  climate  of  the  earth 
modified  its  living  inhabitants.  Where  the  old  tropical 
conditions  more  or  less  linger  (say,  in  Chile  or  Peru)  the 
Jesuits  are  hardly  changed  ;  and  we  find  the  alteration 
in  exact  proportion  to  the  environment.  There  is  no 
change  in  the  inner  principles  and  ideals.  "  All  for  the 
Glory  of  the  Society,"  as  Mgr.  Talbot  sardonically  trans- 
lated their  Latin  motto,  is  still  the  ruling  principle  ;  the 

^  There  are  in  Count  von  Hoensbroech's  book  some  scathing  reflections 
on  the  character  and  cuUure  of  the  English  Jesuits.  The  Count  underwent 
part  of  his  Jesuit  training  in  England. 


444  THE  JESUITS 

Society  remains  the  Esau  of  the  Roman  clerical  world. 
It  still  chiefly  seeks  the  wealthy  and  powerful;  it  is 
the  arch-enemy  of  progress  and  liberalism  in  Catholic 
theology ;  Its  scholarship  is  singularly  undistinguished  in 
proportion  to  its  resources  ;  ^  it  embarks  on  political  in- 
trigue, even  for  the  destruction  of  State-forms,  whenever 
its  interest  seems  to  require  ;  it  is  hated  by  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  Catholic  clergy  and  laity  in  every 
country.  Let  a  liberal  Pope  again  come  to  power 
and  Modernism  prevail,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that 
Catholicism  itself  will  again  angrily  suppress  the  per- 
verse and  irregular  construction  of  the  Spanish  soldier- 
diplomatist,  and  insist  that  religious  ideals  shall  be 
pursued  only  by  scrupulously  clean  and  unselfish 
exertions. 

^  Let  me  recall  that  I  do  not  personally  expect  the  Society  to  produce 
anything  but  theologians,  and  of  these  it  has  produced  many  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  In  controversial  theology,  however,  the  work  of  the 
Jesuits  is  grossly  unscholarly  and  casuistic  ;  truth  seems  to  be  a  secondary 
consideration.  But  it  is  so  often  claimed  that  the  Jesuits  are  a  learned  body 
in  the  more  general  sense,  that  it  is  necessary  to  invite  reflection  on  their 
record.  Of  the  fifteen  thousand  living  Jesuits,  and  their  predecessors  for  a 
century,  who  has  won  even  secondary  rank  in  letters,  history,  or  philosophy  ? 
In  science  there  are  only  Father  Secchi,  the  single  distinguished  product  of 
their  science-schools,  and  Father  Wasmann,  whose  philosophy  (apart  from 
his  observations)  is  the  laughing-stock  of  biology. 


INDEX 


Abyssinia,  the  Jesuits  in,  52,  78,  140, 

296. 
Acosta,  Father,  114,  115. 
Acquaviva,  General,  106-140. 
Adomo,  Father,  96. 
Aiguillon,  the  Due  d',  350. 
Alberoni,  Cardinal,  270,  271. 
Alcalk,   the   Jesuits   at,    10,   42,   44, 

S5-         .   . 
Alessandrini,  Cardinal,  84,  87. 

Alexander  I.,  377,  378,  380,  381. 

Allen,  Cardinal,  144,  152. 

Almeida,  Father,  136. 

Alphonso  VI.,  256-7. 

XII.,  437. 

Alva,  Duke  of,  88,  91. 

Anderledy,  General,  434. 

Anna,  Queen,  266,  297. 

Annat,  Father,  238. 

Antonelli,  Cardinal,  427. 

Aranda,  275,  276,  277. 

Araoz,  Father,  38,  42,  72,  84. 

Armada,  the,  152,  153. 

Arnauld,  Angelique,  222,  223,  236. 

„        Antoine,  223,  225,  227,  231, 

237,  243. 

Arrowsmith,  Father  E.,  199. 

Aubeterre,  Marquis  d',  343. 

Auger,  Father,  89,  90,  99,  117,  118. 

Aitgusitnus,  the,  224,  230. 

Austria,  the   Jesuits  in,  92,  93,  loi, 

132,  324-7,  360,  417,  426,  428. 

Azpeitia,  3,  17. 

Azpuru,  Mgr.,  343. 

Baiiez,  135. 
Barriere,  123. 
Barry,  Mme  du,  350. 
Bathori,  Stephen,  loi,  131. 
Bavaria,  the  Jesuits  in,  327,  3285 
Bay,  Michel  de,  100,  130. 
Bayle,  176,  238. 

Bayonne,  the  Conference  of,  88. 
Beaumont,  Archbishop  de,  360. 
Beckx,  General,  417,  428,  429. 


Bedloe,  210,  211. 

Belgium,   the   Jesuits    in,   48-9,    75, 

91-2,  100,  128,  130,  180,  421-2. 
Bellarmine,  Cardinal,  100,  113. 
Benedict  xiv.,  262,  287,  295,  339. 
Benislawski,  Bishop,  2)73- 
Bermudez,  Father,  271,  272. 
Bernis,  Cardinal,  343,  344,  346,  350. 
Berulle,  Carchnal  de,  177,  178. 
Bismarck,  432,  433. 
Blackwell,  G.,  158,  159. 
'  Bobadilla,  14,  20,   40,   49,  50,  56-8, 

94,  106. 
Bodler,  Father,  316. 
Borgia,  Francis,  43,  71-2,  80-94. 
Borromeo,     Charles,     67,     68,     69, 
96-9. 
„  Frederic,  69. 

Bosgrave,  Father,  149. 
Bossuet,  236,  241. 
Boulanger,  General,  and  the  Jesuits, 

436. 
Bourbon,  Cardinal  de,  88,  99. 
Bourg  Fontaine,  the  Plot  of,  230. 
Brazil,  the   Jesuits   in,    52,    78,    104, 

139,  304-  ■ 
Briant,  Father,  151. 
Britto,  Father,  291. 
Broglie,  Abbe  Count  de,  382,  413. 
Brouet,  Paschase,  16,  20,  36,  41,  47, 

58. 
Buckingham,  Countess  of,  199. 
Burnet,  38,  39. 
Bzrozowski,  General,  378,  381. 

California,  the  Jesuits  in,  308. 
Camara,  Gonzales  da,  70,  71,  86. 
Campion,  Father  E.,  143,  144-9,  ^So- 
Campmiiller,  Father,  351. 
Canada,  the  Jesuits  in,  193,  308-9. 
Canisius,  Peter,  49,  50,  75,  92. 
Cano,  Melchior,  42,  43. 
Caraffa,  Cardinal,  17,  53. 
Caravita,  Father,  383. 
Cardenas,  Bishop,  299-302. 


445 


446 


THE  JESUITS 


Carlists,  the,  and  the  Jesuits  408,  409, 

426. 
Carroll,  John,  414. 
Catesby,  157,  159,  160,  161-4. 
Catherine  de  Medici,  73,  74,  88-91. 
Catherine  of  Portugal,  71,  86. 
Catherine  the  Great  and  the  Jesuits, 

370-4. 
Catholic  League,  the,  117,  118,  119. 
Caussin,  Father,  176. 
Chambord,  the  Due  de,  435. 
Charles  I.,  201,  202. 

„        II.,  205,  206,  209,  212,  268. 

„        III.,  274-7,  349,  351. 

„       IV.,  of  Lorraine,  179. 

„       X..  402-4. 
Charles  Albert,  393. 

„       Felix,  393. 
Chastel,  Jean,  123. 
Chateaubriand,  234. 
Cheminot,  Father,  179,  180. 
China,  the  Jesuits  in,  78,  104,  138-40. 

190-1,  281-8,  423. 
"  Chinese  Rites,"  the,  281-8. 
Choir,  29,  31. 
Choiseul,  348,  349,  350. 
Christina  of  Spain,  408,  409. 
Christina  of  Sweden,  312-4. 
Cisneros,  8. 

Cistercians,  the,  and  the  Jesuits,  187. 
Civiltk,  Cattolica,  the,  427. 
Clarke,  Father,  272. 
^Xlaver,  Father,  297. 
Clavius,  Father,  107,  133. 
Clement  viii.,  114,  115,  155. 
„       XL,  284,  286,  339. 
„       XIL,  295. 
„       XIII.,    262,   264,    277,    339, 

340,  342. 
„       XIV.,  345,  346,  347,  348,  350, 

352-7,  358,  368. 
Clement,  Jacques,  119,  126. 
Clenock,  Dr.,  144. 
Clermont  College,  the,  75. 
Cochin  China,  the  Jesuits  in,  289-90. 
Cock,  Archbishop,  322. 
Codacio,  21,  25. 
Codde,  Archbishop,  321-2. 
Codure,  16,  20,  36. 
Cogardan,  58,  -Ji. 
Coimbra,  the  Jesuits  at,  46,  70. 
Coleman,  208,  209,  211. 
Colleges,  31. 

Colmar,  the  Jesuit  college  at,  331. 
Cologne,  the  Jesuits  at,  49,  361. 
Conde,  Ti,  74. 


Congo,  the  Jesuits  in  the,  52,  78,  296. 
Congregation  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  398, 

402.  i.^'-'-,     '•- 

Congregation  of  the  Sacred  Heart, 

382,  384. 
Consalvi,  Cardinal,  391,  392. 
Constitutions,  the   Jesuit,  24,  28-31, 

59-    .   . 
Contarini,  Cardinal,  24,  25. 

Contzen,  Adam,  216. 

Copts,  Mission  to  the,  296. 

Cordara,  Father,  168,  274,  347. 

Coster,  Father,  129. 

Coton,  Father,  125,  127,  128,  178. 

Cottam,  Father,  149,  150. 

Coxe,  269,  273,  275. 

Cracow,  the  Jesuits  at,  185. 

Cretineau-Joly,  vi,  4,  23,  38,  50,  56, 
69,  n.  85.  96,  98,  120,  165,  168, 
171,  178,  183,  215,  225,  228,  238, 

285,  305,  344,  349,  353,  360,  m, 

391,  402,  405. 
Crichton,  Father,  64,  149,  151. 
Cromwell  and  the  Jesuits,  203,  204. 

D'AIembert,  351,  365,  366. 
Damiens,  248. 
D'Andilly,  Arnauld,  225. 
Darbyshire,  Thomas,  142. 
Daubenton,  Father,  268,  269,  271. 
Declaration  of  the  Gallican  Clergy, 

241,  250. 

Democracy,  the  Jesuits  and,  400,  401. 
Despotism  of  the  Jesuit  general,  335. 
Destelberg^en,  421. 
Dillingen,  the  University  of,  76,  92. 
"  Doleful  even-song,"  the,  200. 
Domifius  ac  Rede7nptor  Noster^  the 

bull,  353-8. 
Douai  fraud,  the,  243, 
Drury,  Father,  200. 
Dubois,  Cardinal,  246. 

Edict  of  Nantes,  Revocation  of  the, 

242,  321. 

"  Edifying  Letters,"  the,  279,  299. 
Eguia,  17. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  145,  148,  152. 
Emerson,  Ralph,  144,  151. 
England,   the   Jesuits   in,   38-9,   64, 
^  142-66,  198-219,  412-4,  441-3- 
Epernon,  the  Due  d',  127. 
Espartero,  409. 

Falk,  Dr.,  432. 
Farnese,  Cardinal  A.,  -iy-if. 


INDEX 


447 


Farnese,  Elizabeth,  270,  271. 
Fathers  of  the  Faith,  383-5,  397,  399, 

406. 
Favre,  Peter,   13,  20,  22,  25,  32,  43, 

46. 
Fawkes,  Guy,  158. 

Ferdinand  11.,  182,  186,  324,  325,  417. 
„         IV.,  (Naples),  342,  378. 
„         VI.,  272-4,  302. 
„         VII.,  389,  406-8. 
Fernandez,  Father,  254-6. 
Ferry,  Jules,  435. 
Figueroa,  Gomez  de,  39. 
Florida  Blanca,  Count,  350. 
Fortis,  General,  392,  394,  400. 
Fourth  vow,  the,  24,  29. 
France,   the   Jesuits   in,  47-8,  72-5, 

87-91,99,  117-28,  174-9,  220-252, 

397-407,  434-7- 
Franco,  Father,  254. 
Frederic  Agustus  i.,  317,  318. 
Frederic  the  Great  and  the  Jesuits, 

351,  364-70. 
Freiburg,    the   Jesuits   at,  361,   418, 

420. 
Franzelin,  Father,  434. 

Gaeta,  flight  of  the  Pope  to,  427. 

Galitzin,  Prince,  379,  380,  381. 

Gallicia,  the  Jesuits  in,  417. 

Gambar,  Father,  66. 

Gambetta,  434. 

Ganga,  Cardinal  della,  391,  392,  393. 

Garibaldi,  428. 

Garnet,  Father  H.,  152,  153,  157,  158, 

159-64. 
General,  authority  of  the  Jesuit,  30. 
Gerard,  Father  J.,  153,  158. 
Gerbillon,  Father,  283. 
Germany,  the  Jesuits  in,  49,  50,  75-6, 

92,     10 1,    130-3,     184-7,    364-70, 

416-7,  431-4. 
Gesu,  the,  33,  107. 
Gilbert,  George,  146,  147. 
Gioberti,  397. 
Giussano,  96,  97. 
Godfrey,  Sir  E.  Berry,  209-12. 
Gonzalez,  General,  335-6,  339. 
Good,  William,  64,  103,  143. 
Gouda,  Nicholas,  64,  65. 
Greenway,  Father,  154,  157,  162-4. 
Gregorian  Calendar,  the,  107,  133. 
Gregory  xiii.,  94,  95,  107. 

XVI.,  353,  394,  395,  396. 
Griffiths,  Dr.,  441. 
Gruber,  Father,  374,  376,  377,  378. 


Gueret,  Father,  123,  124. 
Guerrero,  Archbishop,  289. 
Guiddiccioni,  Cardinal,  24,  25,  26. 
Guignard,  Father,  124. 
Guise,  the  Due  de,  117,  118. 
Gunpowder  Plot,  the,  158-64. 

Hagenbrunn,  382,  384. 

Hay,  Father  Edmund,  64,  118,  142, 

Henriquez,  Leo,  70. 

Henry  III.,  117-9. 

„      IV.,  117,  119,  121,  122-5. 
Hernandez,  Father,  109. 
Hey  wood.  Father,  149,  151. 
Hoensbroech,  Count  von,   120,   433, 

436,  443- 
Holland,  the  Jesuits  in,  128-30,  180-1, 

320-3,  422. 
Holt,  Father,  149,  151,154. 
Hozes,  17,  20. 
Hume,  Major,  266,  408. 
Hungary,  the  Jesuits  in,  330-1,  417. 

Ignatius,  St.,  birth  of,  i. 

„  at  Barcelona,  9. 

„  canonisation  of,  169. 

„  and  Cardinal  Pole,  38, 

39- 
„  character  of,  5,  27,  28, 

33,  34,  53- 

„  conversion  of,  4,  6. 

daily  life  of,  34,  35. 

„  death  of,  54. 

„  diplomacy  of,  28,  45. 

„  early  disciples  of,  9,  10, 

II,  14. 

„  early  morals  of,  5. 

„  election  of,  32. 

„  founds  his  Society,  15. 

„  and  the  Inquisition,  10, 

II,  22,  40. 

„  at  London,  12. 

„  at  Manresa,  7,  8. 

„  in  Palestine,  9. 

,,  at  Paris,  11-16. 

„  at  Rome,  9,  20-35. 

„  secrecy  of,  14,  16,  28,  43. 

„  at  Venice,  9,  17. 

„  at  Vicenza,  19. 

,,  and  women,  21. 

„  wounding  of,  2. 

hnago  Primi  Sceculi,  the,  180. 
Immaculate  Conception,  the,  100. 
In  Ccena  Domini,  the  bull,  348. 
India,  the  Jesuits  in,  51,  77-8,  103-4, 
188-90,  291-5,  422-3. 


448 


THE  JESUITS 


Infallibility,  papal,  and   the  Jesuits, 

429. 
Innocent  x.,  305,  307,  308. 
„       XL,  240,  241,  336. 
„      XIII.,  287. 
Inquisition,  Jesuits  and  the,  10,   11, 

22,40,  45,  no,  258. 
Interim,  the,  50. 

Iveland,  the  Jesuits  in,  35-7,  64,  149. 
Italy,  the  Jesuits  in,  40-2, 65-76, 93-4, 

96-9,  169-70,  334-60,  383-9,  390-7, 

426-31. 

James  i.,  157, 198,  199. 
„       II.,  206,  211,  213-8. 
„       v.,  35,  36. 
Jansen,  Bishop,  221,  222,  223,  224, 

229. 
Jansenists,  character  of  the,  225-6. 
Japan,  the  Jesuits  in,  51,  78,  136-8, 

191,  280. 

Jessopp,  Dr.,  143,  153. 

Jesuits,  the,  and  the  Papacy,  24,  35, 

50,    57,   60,    61,    82-4,   95, 

I  io~4,  240,  277,  285,  286-8, 

289,  295,  307,  339,  353-63, 

367,  371-3,  412. 

„  casuistry  of  the,  43,  61,  75, 
81,  100,  119,  129,  136,  179, 
183,  205,  232-4,  280,  281, 
284-95,  316,  319,  335-7, 
411. 

„       and  the  Catholic  clergy,  39, 

44,  85,  97,  no,  154,  177, 
178,  181,201,202,  237,  244, 
283,  285,  289,  290,  299-302, 
305-8,  321-2,  323,442,443. 

„  and  church-dignities,  44,  45, 
93,  215,  254,  267,  272,  330. 

,,  commerce  of  the,  52,  81,  137, 
172,  192-3,202,  248-9,  255, 
269,  283,  288,  290,  294, 
298-9,  307,    308,  309,  319, 

328,  331,  339,  373- 
„       learning  of  the,  140-1,  196, 

281,  326-7,  366,  395. 

,,  morality  of  the,  46,  65,  66, 
68,  69,  109,  no,  171,  177, 
226,  238,  246,  272,  274,  280, 

282,  285,  289,  290,  300-2, 
306,327,329,351,359,362. 

,,       and  national  decay,  314-5. 
„       obedience  of  the,  58,  72,  1 10, 

169,  336-7- 
„       politicalactivity  ofthe,  70,  71, 

86-7,  89,  103,  II 7-2 1,  134, 


149,  153-7,  176,  182,  203, 
215,  256-7,  267-72,  316, 
317,325,328,330,376,436, 
438. 

Jesuits,  quarrels  of  the,  58-9,  72,  106, 
107,  no,  114-7,167,336-7, 
362,  391-2. 
„  untruthfulness  ofthe,  75,  102, 
153-4,  157,  161,  164,  171, 
179,  180,  186-7,  188-9, 
229,  230,  240,  243,  260, 
272,273,291,292,305,316, 
339,  349,  353-4,  360,  368, 
372,  373,  380,  434. 
„  wealth  of  the,  41,  81,  85,  86, 
92,  109,  122,  132,  136,  186, 
269,  283,  290,  294,  298, 
304,  307,  325,  326,  328, 
331,362,  436,  438. 

John  III.,  45,  59- 
„     IV.,  254,  255. 
„     VI.,  389,  409. 

John  Casimir,  316. 

Jones,  Dom,  202. 

Joseph  II.  (Austria),  345,  350. 

Joseph  of  Portugal,  259,  260,  261-5. 

Jouvency,  Father,  116,  245. 

JuHus  III.,  53. 

July  Revolution,  the,  394,  404. 

Kaempfer,  138. 
Kang  Hi,  282,  287. 
Kaunitz,  Count,  344,  350. 
Keene,  Sir  B.,  273. 
Kelly,  Father,  415. 
King,  Thomas,  64. 
Kulturkampf,  the,  433. 

La  Chaise,  Father,  208,  238,  243. 
Lainez,    Diego,    14,   20,   22,    25,   41, 

49,  53,  56-65,  72,  76-9- 
Lammennais,  Abbe  de,  400,  401. 
Lamormaini,  Father,  186,  324,  325. 
Lang,  K.  von,  325. 
Lavalette,     bankruptcy    of,     248-9, 

251. 
Law,  T.,  143,  154. 
Le  Jay,  16,  20,  49. 
Leo  XII.,  393. 

Letellier,  Father,  243,  244,  245. 
Leu,  419,  420. 
Lippomani,  41. 

Lisbon,  the  earthquake  at,  261. 
Louis  XIII.,  174,  176,  183. 

„      XIV.,  206,  207,   208,  236,  238, 
239,  242,  245. 


INDEX 


449 


Louis  XV.,  247,  248,  251, 

„     XVIII.,  389,  398. 
Louis  Philippe,  402,  403,  404. 
Louvain,  the  Jesuits  at,  48,  75,  100, 

ISO- 
Loyola,  the  house  at,  i,  2,  3,  16. 
Lucerne,  the  Jesuits  at,  360,  419-20. 
Luisa,  Queen,  254,  255,  270. 
Luynes,  Cardinal,  343. 

Macedo,  Father,  313. 
Maggie,  Father,  124. 
Maintenon,  Mme  de,  242. 
Maistre,  Joseph  de,  -yn,  379. 
Malabar  Rites,  the,  293-4. 
Malagrida,  Father,  265. 
Maldonat,  Father,  100. 
Malta,    Jesuits   expelled   from,   170, 

342. 
Malvezzi,  Cardinal,  352. 
Manares,  Oliver,  88,  89,  91,  95,  106. 
Manning,  Cardinal,  426,  441,  442. 
Manresa,  7,  8. 
Marcenius,  Father,  no. 
Margaret  of  Parma,  76. 
Maria  Theresa,  326,   344,  350,  351, 

360. 
Mariana,  Father,  108,  114,  119,  120, 

126. 
Marianne,    Archduchess,    382,    384, 

385. 

Marie  Isabelle,  Queen,  256,  257. 

Marie  de  Medici,  125,  128,  175. 

Mary  Queen  of  Scots  and  the 
Jesuits,  64,  142,  151,  153. 

Maryland,  the  Jesuits  in,  218,  308. 

Martignac,  402,  403. 

Martin,  Commandant,  280,  294. 

Martini,  the  Jesuit  Mandarin,  283. 

Matthieu,  Father  Claude,  117. 

Mauric»  of  Nassau,  128. 

May  Laws,  the,  432,  434. 

Mayenne,  the  Due  de,  121. 

Mazzarino,  Father,  97. 

Mendoza,  148,  149,  151,  344. 

Mental  reservation  {see  Untruthful- 
ness of  the  Jesuits),  164. 

Mercurian,  General,  94-104. 

Metternich,  417. 

Mexico,  the  Jesuits  in,  139,  305-8, 
416. 

Mezzabarba,  Mgr.,  286,  287. 

Michael  Angelo,  33. 

Michelet,  405. 

Miguel,  King,  410,  411. 

Milan,  the  Jesuits  at,  67-70,  96-9. 

29 


Missions,  the  Jesuit,  51-2,  T]^  103-4, 
135-40,  187-94,  279-310,  422-3. 

Molinism,  135. 

Monita  Privata,  the,  184. 

Monod,  Father,  176. 

Montepulciano,  the  Jesuits  expelled 
from,  65. 

Montespan,  Mme  de,  236,  238. 

Montmartre,  the  vows  on,  15. 

Montserrat,  6. 

Morality,  Catholic,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  49. 

More,  Father,  143. 

Miiller,  H.,  8. 

Naples,  the  Jesuits  at,  66. 

„       Jesuits  expelled  from,  342. 
Napoleon  and  the  Jesuits,  376. 
Natalis,  Father,  56,  72. 
Navarro,  275. 
Neale,  Bishop,  414. 
Neercassel,  Archbishop,  321. 
Netterville,  Father,  203,  204. 
Nicolai,  Father,  102,  103. 
Nicolini,  46. 

Nidhard,  Father,  267,  268. 
Noailles,  Cardinal,  244,  245,  246. 
Nobili,  Robert  de,  188-90. 
Nouet,  Father,  226. 

Oates,  Titus,  207,  209,  211. 
Obedience,   Jesuit  [see   Jesuits],  29, 

34- 
Ogilvie,  Father,  149. 
Oldcorne,  Father  E.,  153,  164. 
Oliva,  General,  257,  336. 
Oratorians,  the,  177-8. 
Orlandini,  25,  -iT,  38. 
Orsini,  Princess,  268,  269,  270. 
Ortiz,  18,  21,  25. 
Otho,  Cardinal,  62. 

Paccanari,  383-5. 

Paccanarists,   the,   383-5,   397,   398, 

402. 
Pacheco,  Cardinal,  59. 
Palafox,  Bishop,  172,  274,  305-8,  351. 
Palermo,  the  Jesuits  at,  93. 
Palmio,  Father,  95. 
Pamiers,  Bishop  of,  237,  240. 
Panne,  Peter,  128,  129. 
Panzani,  201,  202,  203. 
Paraquay,  the  Jesuits  in,  140,  191-3, 

260,  273,  297-304. 
Pardo,  Archbishop,  289. 
Pariahs,  Jesuit,  293. 


450 


THE  JESUITS 


Parsons,   Father   Robert,  112,   143- 

53,  155-7,  165. 
Pascal,  Blaise,  231-5. 
Pasquier,  86. 
Paul  I.,  374,  376. 

„    III.,  18,  20,  23,  24,  53. 

„    IV.,  53,  57,  58,  60,  62. 
Pedro  I.,  256,  257. 

„     II.,  411- 
Percy,  Father,  199. 
Persia,  Jesuits  penetrate,  296. 
Petre,  Father  E.,  214,  215,  216. 
Petrucci,  Father,  390,  391,  392. 
Phaulcon,  291. 
Philip  II.,  96,  no,  121,  152,  153. 


IV.,  266. 


„    v.,268,  270,  271.  . 
Philippines,  the  Jesuits  m  the,  280-9. 
Piazza  Margana,  house  in  the,  22,  23, 

Piedmont,  the  Jesuits  in,  388,  393. 
Pigenat,  Fr.  Odon,  118. 
Puis  IV.,  63,  70,  82. 

„    v.,  82,  83,  84. 

„    VI.,  369,  372,  373,  374,  382,  383- 

„    VII.,  375,  376,  386,  387,  392. 

„    IX.,  396,  397,  426,  427- 
Poissy,  colloquy  at,  74. 
Polanco,  38,  94,  95. 
Poland,  the  Jesuits  m,  loi,  131,  185, 

314-20,  361,  370-1. 
Pole,  Cardinal,  38,  39. 
Polignac,  404. 
Pollock,  J.,  208,  209,  211. 
Polotzk,  College  at,  377,  378,  380. 
Pombal,  Marquis  de,  259-65. 
Pompadour,  Mme  de,  247. 
Popish  Plot,  the,  207,  208,  209-12. 
Port  Royal,  222-4,  229,  231,  236,  237, 

243- 
Portugal,  the  Jesuits  in,  45-7,  70-1, 

86-7,  174,  254-65,  409-11,  437- 
Possevin,  Father,  87,  88,  90, 103,  122, 

131,  132. 
Postel,  48. 
Privileges    of   the   Jesuits,    31,    48, 

63. 
Probabilism,  235  (note),  336-7. 
Professed  houses,  31. 
Provincial  Letters,  the,  231-5. 
Prussia,  the  Jesuits  in,  364-70. 
Purgatory,  Jesuit  view  of,  100. 
Puritans,  the,  and  the  Jesuits,  203. 
Puteo,  Cardinal,  61. 

Quesnel,  244,  245. 


Rabago,  Father,  272,  273,  303. 
Ratio  Studiorum,  the,  140,  395. 
Ravaillac,  125,  126. 
Ravignan,  Father  de,  404,  405. 
Reductions,  the,  192,  193,  297-9. 
Reformation,  the,  i,  16,  20. 
Regale  controversy,  the,  239-42. 
Regicide,    Jesuit    doctrine    of,    120, 

126. 
Rhodes,  Father  de,  289. 
Ribadeneira,  Father,  33,  38,  39,  48, 
75,  169. 

Ribera,  Father,  68. 

Ricci,  Father,  138,  139. 

Ricci,  General,  251,   262,   275,   339, 
340,341,343,345,357,359. 

Richelieu,    174,    I75,   17",    I77,   183, 
224. 

Ripperda,  271,  272. 

Robinet,  Father,  269,  270,  271. 

Rodriguez,  Simon,  14,  20,  25,  45,  46, 

57. 
Rohan,  Anne  de,  224,  225. 
Rome,   Jesuits    expelled  from,  430, 

440. 
Roothaan,   General,   294,   400,   405, 

406. 
Rossi,  Count,  396,  406. 
Royal  confessor,  instructions  to,  324. 
Rozaven,  Father,  391,  392. 
Russia,  the  Jesuits  in,  370-81. 


Sacchini,  Father,  47,  55,  57,  59,  61, 

Saint  Simon,  244,  245,  269. 
Salamanca,  the  Jesuits  at,  11,  42. 
Saldanha,  Cardinal,  262,  264. 
Salerno,  Father,  330. 
Salmeron,  Alfonso,    14,   20,   36,   37, 

41,  49,  67,  94- 
Sammier,  Fr.  Henri,  118. 
Saniassi,  the  Jesuit,  188-90,  291-2. 
Saragossa,  the  Jesuits  at,  44. 
Sasbold,  Archbishop,  181. 
Savelli,  Cardinal,  68. 
Saxony,  the  Jesuits  in,  329. 
Schall,  Adam,  190,  281-2. 
Schoppe,  Caspar,  69. 
Scotland,  the  Jesuits  in,  35-7,  64,  65, 

142,  149. 
Sebastian  I.,  87. 
Secular  education,  the  Dutch  clergy 

and,  422. 
Sens,  the  Archbishop  of,  237. 
Seville,  Jesuit  bankruptcy  at,  171-4- 
Siam,  the  Jesuits  in,  290-1. 


INDEX 


451 


Sicily,  the  Jesuits  in,  338,  342,  378, 

386,  395,  428. 
Sigismund  HI.,  132. 
Simpson,  R.,  143,  148. 
Sixtus  v.,  107,  1 10-3,  121. 
Sobieski,  317. 

Socialism  and  the  Jesuits,  433. 
Society  of  the  Faith  of  Jesus,  383-5. 
Society  of   Jesus,   establishment   of 

the,  15,  22,25. 
Society  of  Jesus,  origin  of  the  name, 

20. 
Sollicitudo,  the  bull,  387. 
Sonderbund,  the,  420. 
Southwell,  Father  R.,  152,  153. 
Spain,  the  Jesuits  in,  42-5,  71-2,  84- 

6,  96,  107-12,  170-4,  265-78,  389, 

406-9,  437-9. 
Spiritual  Coadjutors,  29,  30. 
"  Spiritual  Exercises,"  the,  7. 
Spying  in  Jesuit  houses,  30. 
Sta.  Maria  della  Strada,  33. 
St.  Bartholomew  Massacre,  the,  89- 

91. 
St.   Cyran,   the  Abbe   de,  221,  222, 

224,  225,  227. 
St.  Omer,  the  college   of,  145,  209, 

219. 
St.  Petersburg,  the  Jesuits  at,  377- 

9- 

Steinmetz,  92. 

Stonyhurst,  412,  413. 
Sunderland,  the  Earl  of,  215,  216. 
Suppression  of  the  Society,  353-63. 
Sweden,  the  Jesuits  in,  101-3,  312-4. 
Switzerland,    the    Jesuits   in,  321-2, 
360-1,  418-20. 

Taicosama,  137,  138. 

Talbot,  Mgr.,  443. 

Talleyrand,  398. 

Taly,  the,  293. 

Tamburini,  General,  339. 

Taunton,  E.  L.,  143,  201,  203. 

Tavora  plot,  the,  263. 

Teatro  /esuztico,\hG,  171. 

Theatine  order,  the,  18. 

Theiner,  Father,  327,  342,  344,  353, 

396. 
Thibet,  Jesuits  penetrate,  295. 
Thirty  Years'  War,  the,  182-3,  325. 
Thompson,  Francis,  13,  37. 
Thorn,  Edward,  92. 
Thorn,  the  massacre  of,  318-20. 
Thorpe,  lather,  412. 
Tilly,  the  Jesuits  and,  182,  183. 


Toledo,  Cardinal,  loi,  115,  122. 
Tonge,  Dr.,  209. 
Torres,  Miguel  de,  70,  71. 
Tournon,  Cardinal  de,  284,  285,  294. 
Transylvania,   the    Jesuits    in,    131, 

132. 
Trent,  the  Council  of,  49,  50,  77. 
Trevisani,  Archbishop,  66. 
Turks,  Ignatius  and  the,  4,  7,  9,  15, 

18. 

Uttigenitus,  the  bull,  244,  245,  246. 
United   States,   the   Jesuits   in    the, 

414-6,  441- 
Urban  VIII.,  224,  227. 

VaJpis,  the  Jesuits  in,  418,  419. 
Valignani,  Father,  137. 
Valliere,  Mile  de  la,  236,  238. 
Valtellina,  the  Jesuits  expelled  from 

the,  65. 
Vatican  Council,  the,  429. 
Venice,  the  Jesuits  at,  18,  41-2,  66, 

133-4,  337-8. 
Verbiest,  Father,  282. 
Vermi,  Onufrio  de,  169. 
Victor  Emmanuel  I.,  388. 

II.,  428,  429. 
Vieira,  Father,  255,  256,  304. 
Villalon,  Friar,  299,  300. 
Villanueva,  Father,  42. 
Vill^le,  402. 

Vincent  de  Paul,  St.,  178,  226. 
Vitelleschi,  Mutio,  167,  168,  179. 
Viterbo,  the  prophetess  of,  359. 
Vota,  Father,  317,  318. 
Vows,  the  Jesuit,  24,  30,  82. 
Vrilli^re,  Father  de  la,  360. 

Waldeck- Rousseau,  436. 
Walpole,  Father  H.,  154. 
Warner,  Father,  211,  215. 
Warsevicz,  Father,  102,  103. 
Weld,  Thomas,  412,  413. 
Weston,  Father,  151,  152,  153,  154. 
Whitbread,  Father,  210. 
William  of  Orange,  129. 
Wisbeach,  the  quarrels  at,  154-6. 
Wiseman,  Cardinal,  441. 
Woulfe,  David,  64. 

Xavier,  Francis,   13,    16,  20,  25,  45, 
51. 

Zahorowski,  Jerome,  184. 
Zapata,  34,  36. 


Printed  by 

Morrison  &  Girb  Limited 

Edinburgh 


Mr.  EVELEIGH  NASH'S 
LIST  OF  NEW  BOOKS 


'^MY    PAST" 

MR.  EVELEIGH  NASH  has  ac- 
quired the  world-rights  of  a  sensational 
autobiography  written  by  a  relative  of 
one  of  the  reigning  mo7tarchs  of  Europe. 
The  memoirs^  which  are  720w  in  active 
preparation^  will  he  published  u?ider  the 
above  title  during-  the  London  season,  but^ 
owing  to  the  terms  of  his  agreement  with 
the  personage  i7t  question^  Mr.  Nash  is 
U7table  to  giye  particulars  at  present. 
The  identity  of  the  author  a7td  full  details 
regarding  the  book  will  be  an720U7tced  i7t 
April. 


MR.  EVE  LEIGH  N A  SITS  NEW  BOOKS 


ADVENTURES    BEYOND    THE 

ZAMBESI 

Of  the  O'Flaherty,   the  Insular  Miss,  the  Soldier- 
Man,  and  the    Rebel  Woman. 

By  MRS.  FRED  MATURIN 

(Edith  Cecil-Porch) 

With  Illustrations  Price  lo;.  6d.  net. 

Four  widely  diverse,  yet  up-to-date  people  agreed 
to  seek  together  the  risks,  excitements,  discomforts 
and  delights  of  sport,  adventure  and  companionship 
beyond  the  Zambesi.  One  of  these  was  Mrs.  Fred 
Maturin  (Mrs.  Cecil-Porch)  whose  previous  book 
"  Petticoat  Pilgrims  on  Trek "  showed  that  she 
possesses  a  rare  power  of  vivid  and  amusing  narrative. 
Wanderers  and  stay-at-homes  will  revel  in  her  Hvely 
description  of  the  six  months'  trip  of  this  delightful 
quartette  in  quest  of  big  game  and  sport  in  the 
African  wilds.  Her  buoyant  optimism  and  her  rich 
sense  of  humour  found  full  play  in  the  many  ad- 
ventures that  befel  them,  and  it  is  just  this  humorous, 
friendly  and  intrepid  outlook  of  hers  that  lends 
such  charm  to  her  written  record.  The  book  is 
illustrated  with  some  remarkably  good  photographs. 


SPORTING  RECOLLECTIONS  OF 

AN    OLD    'UN 

By  FRANK  N.  STREATFEILD,  C.M.G. 

{Author  of ''^  Reminiscences  of  an  Old  ^Un.^^) 
Illustrated  Price  js,  6d.  net. 

A  book  after  the  heart  of  all  good  sportsmen, 
brimming  over  with  cheerfulness  and  good  fellow- 
ship. The  author,  who  has  been  a  universally 
popular  figure  in  sporting  circles  for  over  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  relates  many  amusing  anecdotes  on 
shooting  of  every  description,  fishing,  falconry  and 
cricket,  and  has  packed  his  book  with  incidents  of 
interest  to  all  who  use  the  rod  and  gun. 


THE    ROMANCE    OF    THE 
ROTHSCHILDS 

By  IGNATIUS  BALLA 

Illustrated  Price   js.    6d.    net. 

A  full  and  picturesque  narrative  of  the  rise  of  the 
House  of  Rothschild.  The  characteristics  and  early 
vicissitudes  of  the  famous  Five  Frankfurters  who 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  House  are  shown,  and 
many  amusing  anecdotes  are  related  of  them  in 
Mr.  Balk's  book. 

Some  Early  Press  Opinions 

"  The  author  takes  us,  in  a  sense,  behind  the 
scenes,  gives  us  a  hundred  details  of  the  Rothschilds' 


MR.  EVE  LEIGH  NASETS  NEW  BOOKS 


methods,  and  shows  us,  step  by  step,  how  the  ac- 
cumulation of  these  enormous  sums  was  made 
possible." — The  Globe. 

"  Extremely  interesting." — Daily  Express. 

"  Interesting  all  the  way  through." — Standard. 

"  Abounds  in  interesting  quotations  and  anecdotes. 
— Liverpool  Daily  Post. 

THE     MARRIED    LIFE    OF 
QUEEN    VICTORIA 

By  CLARE  JERROLD 

Author  o/"  The  Early  Court  of  Queen  Victoria''  etc. 
Illustrated.  Price     15-f.     net. 

In  this  volume  Mrs.  Jerrold  carries  a  stage  further 
her  interesting  study  of  Queen  Victoria's  life.  She 
endeavours  to  tell  the  real  truth  regarding  the 
Queen's  married  life  and  her  relations  with  the 
Prince  Consort,  and  in  doing  so  relies  on  their  own 
recorded  actions  and  words  rather  than  upon  the 
highly  coloured  and  in  many  cases  exaggerated 
pictures  presented  by  the  "  lives  "  of  Prince  Albert 
which  were  authorised  by  the  Queen. 

The  result  is  a  human  and  fascinating  story.  The 
relations  of  the  Queen  and  Prince  with  those  around 
them,  with  their  children  and  with  their  ministers 
— especially  their  hatred  and  fear  of  Palmerston^ 
their  love  for  Louis-Philippe,  for  the  German  cori- 
federation,  and  their  complacency  towards  Russia 
are  all  dealt  with  and  throw  a  strong  new  light  upon 
the  English  Court  during  the  years  in  which  Prince 
Albert  was  virtually  King. 


MR.  EVELEIGH  NASH'S  NEW  BOOKS 


THE  SAILOR  WHOM  ENGLAND 

FEARED 

Being  the  Story  of  Paul  Jones,  Scotch  Naval  Ad- 
venturer and  Admiral  in  the  American  and  Russian 

Fleets. 

By  M.  MACDERMOT  CRAWFORD. 

Author  of  The  Wife  of  Lafayette:' 

Illustrated.  Price    i$s.   net. 

John  Paul  Jones  was  unquestionably  one  of  the 
most  striking  characters  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Born  in  1747,  the  son  of  a  gardener  in  Kirkcudbright- 
shire, he  was,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  third  mate  on 
a  slaver,  at  twenty  a  merchant  captain  ;  at  twenty- 
eight  lieutenant  in  the  United  States  Revolutionary 
Navy ;  at  twenty-nine  a  captain ;  at  thirty-two 
commodore,  "  the  ocean  hero  of  the  Old  World  and 
the  New,"  spoiled,  adulated,  petted  by  great  and 
small.  A  vice-admiral  in  the  Russian  Navy  at 
forty-three — at  forty-five  he  was  dead  ! 

A  traitor  who  terrorised  his  countrymen,  known 
alternately  as  "  rebel,"  "  corsair,"  and  "  pirate," 
Paul  Jones  was  none  the  less  a  man  of  rare  distinction 
and  abihty — a  brilhant  seaman  endowed  with  courage 
and  determination  ;  and  the  record  of  his  deeds  is  a 
story  of  unflagging  interest. 


A   CANDID    HISTORY    OF    THE 

JESUITS 

By  JOSEPH  McCABE. 

Author   oj  "  The   Decay   oj  the   Church   oj  Rome^'' 
"  Twelve  Tears  in  a  Monastery^''  l^c. 

Price    lOJ".    6d.    net. 

It  is  curious,  in  view  of  the  endless  discussion  of 
the  Jesuits,  that  no  English  writer  has  ever  attempted 
a  systematic  history  of  that  body.  Probably  no 
religious  body  ever  had  so  romantic  a  history  as 
the  Jesuits,  or  inspired  such  deadly  hatred.  On  the 
other  hand,  histories  of  the  famous  society  are 
almost  always  too  prejudiced,  either  for  or  against, 
to  be  reliable.  Mr.  McCabe,  whose  striking  book 
"  The  Decay  of  the  Church  of  Rome  "  attracted 
such  widespread  and  well-merited  attention,  has 
attempted,  in  his  new  book,  to  give  the  facts  im- 
partially, and  to  enable  the  inquirer  to  form  an  in- 
telligent idea  of  the  history  and  character  of  the 
Jesuits  from  their  foundation  by  Loyola  to  the 
present  day.  Every  phase  of  their  remarkable 
story — including  the  activity  of  political  Jesuits 
and  their  singular  behaviour  on  the  foreign  missions 
— is  carefully  studied,  and  the  record  of  the  Jesuits 
in  England  is  very  fully  examined. 


7    . 


MR.  EVELEIGH  NASH'S  NEW  BOOKS 


A  KEEPER  OF  ROYAL  SECRETS 

Being  the  Private  and  Political  Life  of  Madame  de 

Genlis. 

By  JEAN  HARMAND 

Illustrated.  Price   15J.   net. 

The  career  of  Madame  de  Genlis  is  one  of  the 
baffling  enigmas  of  history.  For  the  greater  part  of 
her  life  she  played  an  important  role  in  the  social 
and  political  life  of  France. 

By  virtue  of  her  intimate  association  with  Philip 
Egalite,  Due  d'Orleans,  and  her  high  position  as  the 
Governor  of  Louis  Philippe  and  the  other  Orleans 
children,  the  influence  she  vi^ielded  practically 
amounted  to  royal  power. 

She  cast  her  spell  over  a  wide  circle,  winning 
admiration  even  from  her  enemies,  and  yet  her  life 
has  been  the  subject  of  a  storm  of  scandalous  reports 
and  speculations. 

What  was  her  exact  relationship  to  the  Duke  ? 
was  she  the  mother  of  the  famous  "  Pamela  ^'  whom 
Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  married  ?  what  was  her 
share  in  the  astounding  affair  of  "  Maria  Stella  "  ? 
what  part  did  she  play  in  the  Revolution  ? — these 
are  some  of  the  mysteries  surrounding  her  on  which 
M.  Harmand,  with  the  help  of  many  unpubHshed 
letters  and  documents,  throws  much  new  light. 

The  whole  truth  will  probably  never  be  known, 
but  M.  Harmand  in  his  elaborate  biography  gives 
us  an  immensely  fascinating  and  vivid  story,  and 
unearths  many  new  details  regarding  her  curious 
and  romantic  life. 

8 


MR.  EVE  LEIGH  NASH'S  NEW  BOOKS 


THE    TRUTH    ABOUT    WOMEN 

B7  C.   GASQUOINE  HARTLEY 

(Mrs.  Walter  M.  Gallichan) 

Price  6s. 

This  book  is  the  outcome  of  twelve  years'  careful 
study  of  the  conditions  of  women  in  this  country 
and  abroad.  Believing  that  the  time  has  now  ar- 
rived when  women  must  speak  out,  fearlessly,  the 
truth  about  their  own  sex,  the  author  has  endea- 
voured to  review  the  situation  as  it  appears  to  her 
after  her  lengthy  study  of  the  subject.  Her  book 
is  divided  into  three  parts — the  biological  considera- 
tion of  the  question — the  historical  consideration, 
and  the  present  day  aspects  of  the  woman  problem. 
It  is  a  book  of  much  plain  speaking  and  closely 
reasoned  argument  and,  whether  or  not  one  agrees 
with  its  conclusions  and  directness,  it  is  a  work 
which  undoubtedly  merits  the  attention  of  every 
responsible  person,  male  and  female. 


MR.  EVE  LEIGH  NASH'S  NEW  BOOKS 


BY-PATHS    IN    COLLECTING 

By  VIRGINIA  ROBIE. 

Profusely  illustrated.  Price  js.  6d.  net. 

Every  enthusiast  over  rare  and  unique  things 
which  have  passed  the  century-old  mark  w^ill  want 
this  delightful  book  by  Virginia  Robie.  It  contains 
a  wealth  of  sound  advice  upon  the  quest  of  the  quaint, 
and  much  reliable  information  is  given  upon  the 
collecting  of  such  things  as  china,  furniture,  pewter, 
copper,  brass,  samplers,  and  sundials. 


PRINTS    AND    THEIR    MAKERS 

Essays  on  Engravers  and  Etchers  Old  and  Modern 
Edited  by  FITZROY  CARRINGTON 

With  200  Illustrations.  Price  los.  6d.  net. 

A  volume  exquisite  in  every  detail  of  the  planning 
and  making.  The  chapters — contributed  by  notable 
authorities — discuss  various  phases  of  etching  and 
engraving  from  the  time  of  Raphael  and  Durer  to 
the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  plates 
for  the  illustrations  (200)  have  all  been  made  with 
unusual  care  from  original  engravings  and  etchings, 
and  together  form  a  valuable  collection. 

10 


MR.  EVE  LEIGH  NASH'S  NEW  BOOKS 


New   Six-^ShilUng  Novels* 

VEILED     WOMEN 

By  MARMADUKE  PICKTHALL 

Author  of  "  Satd  the  Fisherman,^''  "  Children  of  the 

Nile"  etc. 

A  fine  novel  of  the  East  telling  the  life  story  of  an 
English  girl  who  marries  an  Egyptian  noble  and  lives 
the  harem  life.  The  gradual  mental  and  physical 
effect  of  the  secluded  life  of  the  harem  upon  a 
healthy  western  woman  is  shown  with  great  effect, 
while  the  story  of  her  ineffectual  appeal  to  the 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  British  Army  of 
Occupation  to  take  her  back,  of  her  escape  from 
the  harem  and  flight  into  the  desert,  of  her  return 
and  eventual  relapse  into  a  state  of  resigned  con- 
tentment with  her  lot,  will  appeal  strongly  to  every 
woman.  The  wonderful  world  of  the  Cairene 
w^omen,  their  comings  and  goings,  their  intrigues, 
their  pleasures  and  pastimes,  the  gorgeous  colouring 
and  the  subtle  perfume  of  their  surroundings,  the 
mystery,  the  charm  and  the  insidious  influence  of 
the  harem  life  are  depicted  with  the  brilliance  of 
characterisation  and  richness  of  detail  that  one  has 
come  to  expect  from  the  author  of  "  Said  the 
Fisherman." 


II 


MR.  EVE  LEIGH  NASJTS  NEW  BOOKS 

LADY    OF    THE    NIGHT 

By  BENJAMIN  SWIFT 

A  charming  story  centreing  round  the  romantic 
attachment  of  two  dehghtful  people — Ysmyn  Veltry, 
the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  French  perfume  manu- 
facturer and  Vivian  Darsay,  a  great-grandson  of  an 
old  Crimean  veteran,  Colonel  Darsay — whom,  years 
before  the  story  opens,  chance  had  brought  together 
and  made  playmates  of  among  the  perfumed  fields 
of  roses,  jasmine  and  all  the  other  fragrant  flowers 
which  surrounded  Veltry's  world-renowned  dis- 
tillery at  Grasse. 

At  the  instigation  of  an  ambitious  sister-in-law, 
Veltry  has  come  to  London  to  inaugurate,  on  lines 
which  shall  outvie  in  magnificence  any  similar 
establishment,  a  shop  in  which  to  sell  his  perfumes. 
Ysmyn  and  Vivian  meet  again  under  dramatic  and 
greatly  changed  conditions  to  find  their  path  to 
happiness  beset  with  difhculties,  and  it  is  not  until 
the  "  Maison  Merveille,"  which  has  quickly  become 
the  talk  of  fashionable  London  and  developed  into 
a  veritable  "  palace  of  beauty  culture  "  is,  in  the 
height  of  its  success,  overtaken  by  disaster,  that  the 
"  Lady  of  the  Night  " — so  called  after  jasmine,  her 
father's  favourite  flower — becomes  the  wife  of  her 
erstwhile  playmate. 


12 


I 


MR.  EVE  LEIGH  NASH'S  NEW  BOOKS 


THE    EMPEROR'S    SPY 

B7  HECTOR  FLEISCHMANN 

"  The  Emperor's  Spy,"  which  deals  with  the 
struggle  between  Napoleon  Bonaparte's  secret 
police,  headed  by  a  beautiful  woman  spy — Elvire — 
and  a  gang  of  daring  Royahst  conspirators  led  by 
Georges  Cadoudal  and  the  ChevaHer  Lahaye  Saint 
Hilare,  is  one  of  the  most  exciting,  vivid  and 
elaborate  historical  novels  since  Dumas's  "  Three 
Musketeers." 

Famous  historical  characters,  from  Napoleon 
downwards,  crowd  its  pages.  Incident  follows 
incident  in  quick  succession,  and  plot  is  met  by 
counter-plot,  until,  at  last,  under  the  shadow  of  the 
wild  cliffs  of  Brittany  the  Emperor's  Spy,  having 
achieved  the  crowning  triumph  of  her  life,  meets 
with  a  swift  and  tragic  death  at  the  hands  of  the 
last  of  the  RoyaHsts.  The  book  is  576  pages  long 
and  there  is  not  one  page  of  this  tremendous  story 
which  does  not  glow  with  living,  human  interest. 

GLOOMY  FANNY  AND  OTHER 

STORIES 

By  MORLEY  ROBERTS 

Author  of'  Thorpe's  Way,''  "  David  Bran,"  etc. 

Readers  of  Mr.  Morley  Roberts's  novel  "  Thorpe's 
Way "  will  remember  that  "  Gloomy  Fanny," 
otherwise  the  Hon.  Edwin  Fanshawe,  was  one  of 
the  most  amusing  characters  in  that  very  amusing 
story. 

13 


MR.  EVE  LEIGH  NASH'S  NEW  BOOKS 


I'D    VENTURE   ALL    FOR  THEE 

B7  J.  S.  FLETCHER 

Author  of  "  The  Town  of  Crooked  Ways''  ''  The  Fine 
Air  of  Mornings''  etc. 

A  story  of  the  Yorkshire  coast,  1745. 


THE    LOST    MILLION 

By  WILLIAM  LE  QUEUX 

Author    of   "  The    Mystery    of   Nine''    "  Without 

Trace''  etc.,  etc. 

CARNACKI 
THE    GHOST-FINDER 

By  WILLIAM  HOPE  HODGSON 

Author  of  "  The  Night  Land,"  "  The  Boats  of  Glen 

Carig,"  etc. 

A    NEW    NOVEL 

By  LADY  TROWBRIDGE 


14 


MR.  EVELEIGH  NASH'S  NEW  BOOKS 

A    HAREM     ROMANCE 

B7  E.  DE  LA  VILLENEUVE 

A  very  lifelike  picture  of  the  Young  Turk  Revolu- 
tion is  contained  in  this  novel.  A  double  love  story, 
full  of  thrilling  incidents,  is  woven  into  the  web  of 
public  events,  the  two  heroines,  one  a  lovely  Turkish 
girl,  the  other  a  beautiful  Armenian,  having  each 
been  prisoners  in  the  Palace  of  Yildiz.  The  person- 
ality of  Abdul  Hamid  is  vividly  realised,  and  the 
cruel  oppression  to  which  he  subjected  the  inmates 
of  his  harem  is  graphically  described. 


Three-and- Sixpence  Net  Novels* 

POISON 

By  ALICE   AND   CLAUDE   ASKEW 

Authors    of  "  The    Shulamite"    "  The    Woman 
Deborah"  etc. 

ROADS    OF    DESTINY 

By  O.  HENRY 

Author  of  "  Cabbages  and  Kings,"   "  Heart  of  the 

West"  etc. 

15 


MR.  EVE  LEIGH  NASH'S  NEW  BOOKS 


T<wo-Shilling  Net  Novels. 

QUEEN    SHEBA'S    RING 

By  H.  RIDER  HAGGARD 

Author  of  "  King  Solomon's  Mines,^'  etc. 


THE    MYSTERY    OF    NINE 

B7  WILLIAM  LE  QUEUX 

Author  of  "  Without  Trace,'*''  etc.,  etc. 

SETH   OF    THE    CROSS 

B7  ALPHONSE  COURLANDER 

Author    of   "  Mightier    than    the    Sword." 


16 


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